Crazy People Are People Too
by chemistrygoddess
Summary: Haunted by her past and confused by dreams of the future, Lexie learns that sometimes it's okay to be crazy. Especially when there's a grey-eyed boy who doesn't mind picking up the pieces. M to be safe - for abuse, adult content, and language
1. Prologue

Okay so this is my first fan fiction ever, in fact this is one of the very first stories I've written ever aside from some stuff I wrote in Creative Writing years ago so be nice! No, really though, it's okay if you don't like it, I've just been reading a lot of fan fiction and had this one in my head for a while. I actually have a lot of the middle written, but very little of the beginning and the end done so that should be interesting... this is just the prologue and the first couple chapters aren't going to be very interesting, I've in the middle of Chapter 1 right now and am trying my hardest to make it somewhat entertaining. I start my senior year of college next week so I'm not sure how frequent I'll be updating, but I'll try my best. Anyways, enjoy!

"Alexandria Hall you have a visitor!"

Lexie was brought out of her slump by the shrill voice being yelled up the stairs. Mrs. Tobias refused to use her nickname and told her that she had graciously been given a nice strong name and she shouldn't waste it. "Figures" Lexie mumbled, "She was the one to name me, she thinks so highly of her choice."

Lexie was brought out of her mumbling when she heard Mrs. Tobias climbing the stairs and yelling again "Alexandria I said you have a visitor, now get down here so he doesn't have to wait any more than necessary."

A visitor? Lexie never had visitors. Slightly nervous after the last two years of hardships, Lexie pulled herself off the bed and before Mrs. Tobias could yank open the door she was timidly making her way past the middle-aged woman and down the stairs. There standing amongst the worn furniture was an old man with a long silver beard and twinkling blue eyes.

"Alexandria Hall? I'm Professor Dumbledore, it's a pleasure, " he said holding out his hand.

Lexie took it timidly and mumbled, "Lexie, only Mrs. Tobias calls me Alexandria and that's only cause she picked the name. That woman is nutters about Egypt."

Duumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Let's sit down and talk shall we, I have an offer for you that you might be interested in."

Lexie was suspicious, last time she was offered anything she ended up living through two years of Hell with Satan herself and it took every last bit of strength she had to get away. She wasn't sure she could go through that again. Professor Dumbledore sensed some of her uneasiness and decided perhaps it was best to just get it out with instead of allowing her to come up with scenarios in her head. She seemed like a girl that liked things straightforward. "I'm here to offer you a place at Hogwarts School."

Lexie couldn't help it and giggled, "Hogwarts, now that's a silly name."

Dumbledore smiled, "It is. In any case, I think you would enjoy it and it would certainly give you a chance to be with people who are more like you."

Lexie looked confused, "People like me? It's not a, special school is it?"

Dumbledore looked at her, " It is a special school Lexie, but I'm not quite sure in the way you think it is."

Lexie looked down at the rug, "It's not for people who are orphans and abused, that's what I meant. People like me that nobody wants."

Dumbledore looked at her carefully, "No Lexie, it's not for people like that at all. It's not for troubled girls either" he said as she went to open her mouth again closing in shock since he appeared to have read her mind, "it's a school for people like you, people who can do magic."

"M-Magic?" Lexie blurted out, "but I can't be magic, I mean that's just crazy. I'm just an orphan."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Not just an orphan Lexie, you're a witch."

"Excuse me, but that's not a very nice thing to say to someone. In fact if I didn't know any better I'd say you're absolutely barmy, totally off your rocker, nuttier than the nuttiest chocolate bar out there. Not to mention rude, hmph, calling me a witch." Lexie was annoyed and felt insulted, just because she was an orphan didn't mean she had to deal with name-calling.

Dumbledore laughed which just made Lexie frown, "Lexie my dear I meant no insult. That's merely what we call women who are magically gifted. Wizards and witches and you my dear are a witch, and I mean that in the very best way possible."

Lexie was still frowning, "I'm sorry Mr. Dumbledore, err, I mean professor, it's just I think you've made a mistake, see I'm not any more magical than Mrs. Tobias."

Dumbledore smiled, "Have you ever had anything happen that you couldn't explain? Think hard Lexie, anything at all that was a tad unusual?"

Lexie frowned and sorted through all her painful memories, the fake birthdays that passed and her time with Celine, being tortured. Lexie gasped, "Well there were a couple times, I, I'm not sure how but I healed quicker than I should have I suppose." She looked back up at Dumbledore and saw his eyes twinkling, "I know it sounds kind of, well lame really, but I would heal over night sometimes. Still, that doesn't make me magic or anything, just means I heal fast."

Dumbledore smiled at her again but his smile held sadness in it and looked at her over his half-moon spectacles and Lexie gasped in recognition, she had seen this man before. Not in real life, but had dreamt of him, just a photo really, but the similarities were uncanny. How could she have missed it? Dumbledore looked at her with a question in his smile. "Sir, um you won't think I'm crazy or anything if I tell you I've seen you before right?" Lexie asked in a timid voice.

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head, "Where have you seen me Lexie?"

Lexie shuffled her feet, "well I know it sounds kind of silly, but I saw you in a dream once. I mean, not like, well I guess it was like I was in a photograph or something. You weren't really moving, I just sort of saw you, you looked like you do now, just then looking at me. I can't believe I didn't recognize you before." Lexie was feeling more and more foolish the more she rambled.

Dumbledore smiled gently, "Do you have these dreams a lot Lexie? Of people you've never met?"

Lexie slowly nodded, he was taking this rather well, "Pretty often, I mean the nights I don't have nightmares. The people don't move in my dreams though, I just sort of see them. I see a boy pretty frequently" she blushed, "actually sometimes I see other boys too and well I've seen a red-headed girl once or twice as well, but I do see this dark headed boy pretty more often than the others. I've never met any of them though. I mean until you really. Unless I'm dreaming right now…?" Lexie trailed off and pinched herself hard just to make sure "Ouch, okay, so I'm not dreaming" she giggled.

Dumbledore let out a soft chuckle "No, Lexie you are quite right, this is no dream."

For some reason Lexie believed this strange man, she had after all seen him before even if it was only in her dreams, but there was just something about him and she felt like she could trust him more than anyone she had ever trusted before. Something inside her told her that things were about to get a whole lot better.


	2. To Hogwarts!

Okay, so this chapter is pretty long. That's my way of saying sorry because I have no idea when I will have the time to upload again because my semester begins on Monday. Also, I just want to say that I have 50 pages written already for this story... however those 50 pages take place during Lexie's fifth year and as you can tell this is her first... so yeah when I said I had the middle stuff written, I really do mean that's all I've done. How I get there is a little hazy and to be honest I'm not so good at the generic Hogwarts stuff i.e. train ride, sorting, classes, etc but I will try to make it a little interesting. So if this chapter is boring, I do apologize, I'm trying to slowly work my way into this and if I go to quickly everything that happens during fifth year will be off. Anyways, enjoy and sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I only read through these once after writing them. I have no beta and I'm a slightly dyslexic Biochemistry major so if spell check misses it, I probably will too. Oh also, I left all my Harry Potter books at home and so I've been using google to double check spellings/names, setting descriptions, etc but if they are a little off from the books I do apologize.

Lexie stared at the wall between platforms 9 and 10 dubiously, convinced now that the last month had been a dream.

Two mornings after meeting Professor Dumbledore, Lexie woke up to a trunk at the end of her bed containing all the books on the supply list she had received from a very stern looking owl along with a note telling he would be bringing her to a place called Diagon Alley to pick up some additional things. Lexie wasn't used to being handed things and the fact that this man was spending a great deal of money on her was slightly unnerving. Meeting Dumbledore had been surreal; trailing along his side through the place called Diagon Alley was mind-boggling.

Lexie couldn't help staring at everything in sight once Dumbledore had uncomfortably brought her here by grabbing her arm which resulted in a very strange squeezing sensation, almost as if she had been squished through a tube. She tried to take every little thing in and felt like she had entered a dream world, terrified that at any second she would wake up.

Dumbledore brought her to a place called Madam Malkin's where every inch of her was measured and she was given black robes and then Dumbledore brought her to a strange little shop called Ollivanders where a creaky old man made her feel utterly ridiculous by having her wave around sticks until one of them shot blue sparks. Dumbledore then proceeded to pay for said stick with what appeared to be quite a bit of money. No wait, it's called a wand Lexie mentally corrected herself as they left.

Walking back into the alley Dumbledore asked her if she wanted an owl so she could send off letters. Feeling like he had spent enough money already on her she politely declined and told him that she didn't have anyone to write to anyways. He treated her to an ice cream despite her objections and then took hold of her arm like he had done before as Lexie felt the similar sensation of being pulled through a tube. She had been returned to Mrs. Tobias and the orphanage where he left her reminding her once again to be at King's Cross in time to catch the train that would take her to Hogwarts on the first of September. Then Dumbledore left, leaving Lexie with a pile of strange school "supplies" and an expression on her face that suggested she was seriously questioning her sanity.

Before Dumbledore had vanished in front of her, Lexie had been too overwhelmed to say much and now staring at the blank wall she felt like she should have at least asked him where platform 9 3/4 was and was now convinced this was just a cruel joke. Shaking her head at how foolish she had been to believe all this, she decided to just go back to the orphanage and explain to Mrs. Tobias that it was all fake and she had been played. Lexie grabbed the trunk that had been given to her and determined to make a quick exit, spun around not noticing the boy behind her as she smacked right into him causing her to emit a soft "oof" as she fell to the ground.

"Ouch, oh bugger" she mumbled when she noticed her trunk had somehow cracked open spilling some of the old books that were tucked inside.

"I'm so sorry, my fault really, I shouldn't have been standing so close to you. I thought you were just about to step onto the platform and didn't expect you to turn around, I'm sorry," said a thin boy with golden brown hair.

Lexie grumbled when she felt blood dripping down her hand and saw that in her fall she had scraped her palm, "Nah, it's okay," she said wiping her palm on her jeans, "shouldn't have turned around so fast and I would have seen you."

Lexie pulled herself up and reached over to her trunk where she shoved he books back in and closed it. She looked at the boy more closely and noticed he was only a little taller than she was, but more shocking was that he had a few faded scars on his face, they didn't disfigure his features in any way, but they were noticeable. _Kind of like me _Lexie thought of the scar on her chin and the one that trailed along her hairline. The boy seemed to notice the scar along her hairline as well as she was sure he had quickly traced it with his eyes.

Not wanting to talk about it, Lexie did what she did best when trying to hide her past and filled her voice with mock cheeriness while sticking out her hand, "Lexie Hall, nice bumping into you, whoever you are."

The boy gave her a small smile and took her hand, "Remus Lupin, sorry again for that. I uh, wasn't really expecting you to turn around. Sorry again."

Lexie waved it off and noticed for the first time a man with graying hair standing behind the boy watching the whole ordeal with a small smile on his face, the exact same smile she had just seen the boy named Remus give her. Lexie knew this must be the boy's father.

"Remus it might be best for us to make our way onto the platform, don't want to be missing the train" the man said.

"Oh yeah," Remus looked at Lexie's trunk one more time before asking, "so um, you're a student at Hogwarts too then? I noticed your copy of Standard Book of Spells when you put it back in your trunk,"

Lexie stared at him for a second realizing this boy had just mentioned the school Professor Dumbledore had offered her a place at and felt relief, at least she wasn't completely crazy. Unless Remus was a figment of her imagination. No he couldn't be, the stinging from her scraped palm told her that. "So it is real then?" she asked in a timid voice.

Remus frowned a little, "I'm not sure I understand the question?"

Lexie smiled, "I really thought I had been pranked or something, thought it was a big hoax. So this Hogwarts place is urm, it exists right?"

Remus laughed and Lexie began to feel better, his laugh was gentle but she could tell it was completely genuine, "Yeah it's real. That explains why you were just sort of staring at the gate."

Lexie smiled, "Well yeah. I still have no idea where platform 9 3/4 is. I mean I figured it's got to be here somewhere cause this is between platforms 9 and 10 so it made sense… well at the time. So does that mean you know where it is?"

Remus smiled "well you found it on your own actually, it is right here. You just walk through, see" he pointed back to the wall and Lexie saw a family walk right towards the wall before disappearing. Lexie blinked, not quite sure what she had just witnessed. She turned and gaped at Remus, "how did, how did they do that? How did you know they were going to do that?"

Remus laughed again and turned back towards his father, "My dad went to Hogwarts and told me, come on, I'll show you."

Remus' father smiled at Lexie, "Mr. Lupin, it's nice to meet you." Lexie shook his hand and turned back to Remus who had stuck her trunk on top of the trolley that he was using for his own. Remus gently led her by the elbow towards the wall, his father following behind them. Remus smiled at her "Just walk right towards the wall like you saw, I'll come with you."

Lexie was doubtful, she was pretty convinced that she had definitely lost her mind entirely and expected them to hit right into the wall. Lexie closed her eyes right as they got to the wall, "well here goes nothing" she mumbled and right as she expected to crack her head into the very solid looking bricks, she felt nothing.

Lexie opened her eyes and gasped, in front of her families were gathered hugging and shouting farewells, teenagers running around pushing trolleys, and behind it all was the most magnificent steam engine she had ever laid eyes on. Lexie had only been on a train a couple of times and none of them were like this.

Lexie gaped at the scene in front of her vaguely aware the Remus was looking at her expression with a smile on his face, "I'm beginning to think this magic thing is actually real," she breathed. Remus laughed, "Well of course it is, come on."

Remus and Mr. Lupin were able to load the trunks onto the train and Mr. Lupin turned around to wish Remus goodbye. Lexie, suddenly feeling misplaced, told him that she would go find some seats. She offered Mr. Lupin a brief goodbye and made her way onto the train. It didn't take long for her to find an empty compartment; the majority of the students were still on the platform with their families.

Lexie felt a wave of sadness and longing, she wished that she had a family who would hug her goodbye on the platform, telling her to have a good year. Lexie sighed and scolded herself for feeling sad, she was finally getting away from the orphanage and away from a place filled with painful memories, she should be happy.

As Lexie was trying to cheer herself up the compartment door slid open and two boys popped their heads in, she thought they might have been brothers since they both had dark hair, but that was the only real similarity. Lexie studied the boy with glasses first, his hair stuck up all over, he looked a little familiar, maybe she had seen him on the platform earlier.

Lexie took one look at the other boy though and knew exactly where she had seen him, this was the dark-haired boy she had seen in her dreams so many times. Lexie gaped at the two of them, she must have seen the other boy a couple of times in her dreams as well, but he wasn't as familiar. Lexie took in every detail, his sleek black hair, stormy grey eyes, lanky figure – this was definitely the boy she had seen in her dreams. Lexie was still gaping openly at the two boys when the messy haired one asked, "Is anyone else sitting in here? We don't really fancy sitting with the greasy haired git at the back of the train and there's nowhere else."

Still not over seeing the grey-eyed boy for the first time, Lexie only registered the last half of what the messy haired boy had asked. Glancing at the boy who had spoken to her Lexie asked, "Sorry, Wha-what was that?" He just smiled at her, "Are these seats taken?"

They wanted to sit _here_? Lexie thought frantically, with _her_? Trying not to look back at the still quiet grey-eyed boy Lexie thought about Remus, she had told him she would get him a seat. "J-Just one of them, the rest are free."

"Brilliant" he answered before plopping himself into the seat next to Lexie while the still-very silent boy took the one across from her. "I'm James by the way, James Potter" said the boy next to her.

Lexie took his outstretched hand, "Um, Lexie Hall." Feeling like she could wait any longer for the other boy to speak Lexie turned to him, "and you are?"

The grey-eyed boy looked at her a little uneasily, for whatever reason Lexie wasn't too sure, and said in a soft voice, "Sirius Black."

Lexie nodded, an unusual name that was, Sirius. She remembered Mrs. Tobias telling her stories about the Dog Star and the Egyptian god Osiris, Mrs. Tobias would probably approve of this boy from his name alone.

Lexie laughed at the thought causing both James and Sirius to look at her. For some reason being in the company of these two boys made her want to know more about them and she found herself saying more than she had in years, especially to strangers. They made her feel at ease, something she wasn't used to. "You're named after a star then? Well can't be worse than me, I'm named after a city. Kind of ostentatious don't you think?"

Sirius appeared to relax a little, glad that this girl was no longer gaping at him like some sort of disease, "I don't know any cities named Lexie, where is that?"

Lexie scrunched up her nose in disgust, "Not Lexie, Alexandria" she said in a false-snobbish voice, "the city in Egypt. I try to avoid being called that as much as possible, Mrs. Tobias is the only one who still calls me that, women's obsessed with Egypt. She'd probably worship you for your name alone. I swear she's gone batty in her old age. Hasn't even been there and she's nuts about the place, talking about gods and queens and tombs, kind of ridiculous." Lexie wasn't sure what made her keep on talking and she couldn't believe she had just rambled about such a pointless topic, as if these boys really cared, but was reassured when they both laughed. Sirius she noticed had a distinctly bark-like laugh.

"Well I'm not entirely against being worshipped, how old is this woman? Mrs. Tobias did you say?"

Lexie laughed, "Yeah. Trust me though, you wouldn't want her following you around trying to woo you - gray hair, never laughs, love to yell at you for sliding down the banister. Not really someone you want tailing you all day long. I mean she's nice enough, but I sure wouldn't want her fancying me. I try to avoid her as much as possible, but I dunno, you two might look nice together, should I set you up?" Lexie taunted.

Sirius looked terrified at the though of being "set up" with the woman she had just described while James and Lexie laughed. Just then the compartment door slid open and Remus looked in and hesitated by the door, almost wondering if he was welcome.

"Oh hey Remus, I was wondering where you got to, have a seat." Remus paused, "Um, I don't want to intrude, you look like you were having a good laugh."

Lexie found his behavior a bit odd, he wasn't nearly this shy when she bumped into him earlier, "Don't be silly Remus, you can come have a laugh with us too. Oh, this is James and Sirius by the way. I was just offering to set Sirius up on a date, don't think he liked that idea too much."

James started laughing again as the horrified expression retuned to Sirius' face. Remus timidly took the last seat next to Sirius and across from James. "So uh, who was who again?" he asked.

Sirius appeared to have recovered and stuck his hand out to Remus, "Sirius Black here, and that git over there is James Potter. Ran into him in the corridor and we figured it might be best to stick together to find seats. So you know Lexie then?"

Remus took his hand, "Uh yeah, accidentally bumped into her outside the platform. Sorry again Lexie."

Lexie shook her head smiling, "Are you kidding me, I was about to turn right back around and leave. I was convinced I had been scammed by a crazy old man telling me about a school of magic, so you bumping into me was a good thing, stop apologizing." Lexie said.

"So you're muggle born then?" asked James. Lexie frowned at him, muggle did he say? What was that?

"Uhm, no idea what you just called me, muggle what?"

James smiled at her kindly, "Muggle, non magical. So your parents aren't magic then?"

"Oh" Lexie suddenly felt very uncomfortable and looked down when she heard James mention her parents, "Uhm, not sure."

Sirius was looking at her curiously while James just plowed forward with his questions, "What do you mean you don't know? Did they never tell you?" he laughed.

Lexie was definitely feeling uncomfortable and really didn't want to talk about her parents anymore than necessary, if she could even call them that, they had after all abandoned her. "I uh, don't really know them."

Sirius seemed to understand right away that she was being completely honest and trying to avoid the subject and looked down almost embarrassed for her and Remus gave her a small smile, James wasn't so quick and after a few seconds he looked ashamed, "Oh, uh sorry" he mumbled.

Lexie forced a small smile on her face, the compartment had become very awkward very quickly. Lexie was used to the quiet, but for some reason it unnerved her this time. Deciding it was her fault she was determined to fix it, "So uh, what do you know about this place? Hogwarts, strange name that is don't you think?"

James smiled at her subject change, glad she wasn't too upset, "Mum and Dad told me a lot about it. Don't really know where the name came from, mum tried to get me to read Hogwarts a History before I came here, don't know why she thought I'd want to spend my summer reading a book when I'd rather play Quidditch. I know they were both Gryffindors, pretty sure I'll be one too, the sorting hat tends to take family into consideration, not always, but often enough I've heard."

Lexie shook her head as if she was trying to get water out of her ears, she hadn't understood at least half of what had just come out of his mouth. Sirius was watching her and laughed, "James I think you just confused the poor girl even more."

James looked sheepish, "Ah, sorry, got carried away, forgot you uh, don't know anything about the magical world and all."

"Quidditch?" Lexie asked deciding to try and understand what the boy had just said.

James beamed at her, "Greatest sport there ever was! It's played on broomsticks and there are four kinds of balls…" with that James went into a detailed explanation of how the game was played and the positions. Lexie had never been particularly into sports, but this one sounded fascinating, just the fact that it took place up in the air made her want to try it.

"Wow" she breathed when he had finished, "that's amazing. I never thought you had your own sport and everything. I can't wait to try flying, sounds like fun."

James brightened, "I can teach you if you want. First years aren't allowed their own brooms, but we might be able to use the school brooms or something."

"Thanks James" she smiled, looking at Remus and Sirius she asked, "do you two want to learn how to fly with us too? It sounds like a blast."

Sirius smiled, "I've flown before, my uh family is also magic like James, but maybe I'll help you learn. I'm always up for flying. What about you Remus, you in?"

Remus looked a little intimidated about being addressed directly, "Uh, well I've flown once or twice when my dad took me up with him. I uh prefer being on the ground to be honest, but maybe it will be useful one day to know how. Sure."

"Brilliant!" said Lexie as the boys smiled, her enthusiasm contagious. "So you also mentioned houses, what are those? Dumbledore never said anything about that, course he didn't even tell me how to get onto the platform so I'm not too surprised."

"You met Dumbledore?" James asked excited, "I just got a boring letter, what was he like? I heard he's brilliant."

Lexie laughed, "Well I don't know about the brilliant part so much, thought he was absolutely barking mad when I first met him to tell you the truth." The boys laughed at that and she continued, "Of course I probably would have thought anyone telling me about magic and witches was off their rocker. He was nice enough though, didn't seem to mind when I was completely confused by everything. So back to the houses, what are they?"

James seemed to have taken it upon himself to answer all of Lexie's questions while Sirius and Remus just listened, "Well there's four of them – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. You're sorted by your personal traits I guess you'd say, bravery, intelligence, loyalty, stuff like that. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw are all good options, well I wouldn't personally want to be in Hufflepuff, but they're not bad. Not so sure about Slytherin, I've heard a lot of nasty stuff about that one from mom and dad."

As James said this Lexie had noticed Sirius looked down embarrassed and she saw his fists clench briefly, "You okay Sirius, you look kind of upset?"

Sirius looked up in shock at being noticed for his behavior, "My whole family's Slytherin, it'll be a miracle if I'm not sent there." He said bitterly his statement causing James to look down ashamed he had brought it up. Sirius noticed the other boy's demeanor drop and added "James is right though, they're kind of a shifty lot. Don't reckon I can be friends with you all if I'm sent there, they uh, don't exactly embrace the other houses or their ideals."

Lexie wasn't sure why the Slytherin house was so bad since she didn't know anything about it until now, but the sad look on Sirius' face caused her to gently grab his hand. He looked at her surprised, "I'd still be your friend Sirius, even if they didn't like it. I mean that's stupid not being friends because of some house. Cheer up, you could be put somewhere else, I mean maybe it doesn't matter your whole family was there before. Heck, I have just as much chance being Slytherin as you."

Sirius smiled knowing someone like Lexie would never be put in Slytherin, but didn't say so. She had just cheered him up considerably and he was grateful for her faith in him, even if he wasn't so sure of it himself. "Thanks Lexie, that means a lot."

Lexie turned back to James remembering something about sorting, "How do they choose? I mean how do they decide where you go?"

James' smile returned to his face, "I begged dad to tell me, mum wouldn't budge, told me I should wait like everyone else. Dad told me when she wasn't looking though" he grinned. "I guess all you have to do is stick an old hat on your head and it shouts out the name of the house. Not sure I believe him or not, then again it's better than the rumor I heard before getting on the train about having to tackle some trolls or fulfill some sort of quest."

Lexie was looking at James like he was the barmy one, "A hat tells you? Uhm, I'm pretty sure your dad was making that up as a joke."

James just shrugged. Sirius had heard from his cousin Andromeda about a hat as well though and added, "I heard it was a hat too from my cousin. Guess we'll find out soon enough if they were just making it up."

Just then the compartment door slid open revealing a plump women "Anything from the trolley dears?"

Having no money to pay for anything Lexie just shook her head. The boys on the other hand had dug into their pockets pulling out the same heavy coins Lexie had seen Dumbledore use and asked for sweets Lexie had never heard of. Of course she rarely found enough loose change to buy candy so she thought nothing of it.

Once the boys arms were laden down with sweets they sat back down and began to sort through it all, Lexie watched them and was jealous that she didn't have any change to buy anything. Sirius had seen the yearning look on her face and asked after swallowing a mouthful of choclate, "Want some Lexie?"

Lexie looked up shocked and ashamed she had been caught eyeing the candy, "Urm no it's uh okay, I wouldn't want to take away any of your sweets."

"Don't be silly, I've got loads."

"Me too Lexie" and "Yeah, you can have some of mine" came from James and Remus who had also noticed that she had nothing to eat. All three boys shoved some into her lap before she could object and embarrassed at being their charity case she mumbled a soft "thank you."

"No problem" they all chorused back and went back to eating as if nothing unusual had happened.

Lexie picked up one of the packages and frowned "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans" it read. Curious she tore open the top and picked out a green bean from the top and popped it into her mouth. "Ughh" she shuddered, "these are repulsive."

Sirius laughed, "What flavor did you get?"

"Tasted like lima beans. Here you can have these back, don't think I want them anymore."

The boys laughed, "but half the fun is eating them" said James, "you get some good ones occasionally. Just watch out for anything brown or an off shade of yellow, trust me on that."

Lexie shuddered and could only imagine the awful flavors those might be. She cautiously picked up a deep red one and popped it in her mouth, "Oh gross. Kidney pie. There is no way I am eating any more of these things."

The boys laughed again, "Give them here" said Remus, "I'll find you one that isn't so vile."

Lexie handed him the pack without second thought, she was more than happy to be rid of the things. Remus sifted through a couple and handed her one, "Here, this one will at least get rid of the foul taste that's probably in your mouth."

Lexie stared at the white bean speckled with pink wondering if she scrutinized it enough it would reveal its flavor to her. Remus laughed "Trust me Lexie, this one won't be bad. If it is I'll eat this nasty mustard colored one."

Lexie held out her hand to him, "Deal" and he smiled and shook on it. Lexie popped the bean in her mouth and smiled, raspberry custard. "Thanks Remus, guess you won't have to eat that one after all."

James and Sirius, realizing just how new Lexie was to everything in the wizarding world, took it upon themselves to make sure she had tried a little of everything.

"Here have a licorice wand," James said and at the same time Sirius had shoved a Cauldron Cake in her hand.

Lexie laughed, it was nice to have friends for once and not have to worry about hiding the truth from them. For the two years Lexie had lived with Celine, the woman she referred to more as Satan than her actual name, she had been too afraid that the abuse she suffered would be discovered and never bothered making any friends. She spent more time trying to hide in the shadows unnoticed. Watching Sirius and James arguing over what she should try next while Remus sat in the corner munching a bar of chocolate and watching the scene with amusement filled Lexie with such a sense of happiness and found herself laughing more than she had for probably her whole life. Entirely too soon the students were advised to put on their robes. The boys left for the loo and told Lexie she could use the compartment to change.

Lexie pulled out her black school robes and stared at them, this was not really her preferred attire. She slipped them on anyways wondering if she could get out of wearing them. Probably best not to go against the system she figured, especially since Dumbledore had bought everything for her. The boys returned also wearing their robes and Sirius seemed to have noticed Lexie's slightly disgruntled expression, "You okay Lexie? You look a little less cheerful than how we left you."

Lexie grimaced, "It's these robes, I just don't think they're very 'me' if you catch my drift. Does everyone really have to wear them?"

Sirius laughed while the other two smiled, "Well I don't reckon anyone has ever not worn them, it's just part of being a witch or a wizard. I'm sure you'll get used to them in no time, change is good."

"Not always," grumbled Lexie thinking about the last few years leading up to Hogwarts. Sirius detected the extra bitterness in her voice but decided not to say anything, she already looked out of her comfort zone and he didn't want to bring any more attention to that than necessary.

The train had pulled to a stop and students began fighting their way out of their compartments and through the narrow aisles. Lexie hung back with the boys and when the chaos had considerably lessened they made their way onto the platform.

"Firs' years over here" boomed a voice over the crowd and Lexie turned towards the voice only to stop in her tracks and stare at the biggest and wildest looking man she had ever seen. He was at least twice her height, probably more, and his face was covered in a thick beard, his hair wild. Lexie was herded forward with all the other first years when they were piled into boats and pushed out into a giant lake. For a little while only the glow of the lanterns could be seen until they turned and Lexie gazed on the most magnificent thing she had ever seen. Her mouth dropped open in absolutely awe of the giant castle, it's windows lit and silhouetted against the dark sky.

Lexie felt someone's breath on the side of her face and hear Sirius whisper in her ear, "So have you decided whether it's worth wearing robes everyday?"

Lexie turned towards him, her mouth forming a giant grin. Sirius smiled back.

Lexie thought her life had gotten better when Dumbledore had showed up, now she actually believed it. This was going to be her home for the next seven years, she could feel it. Things were definitely changing for good this time.

So that wasn't too boring right? I did try and I'm not totally pleased with it, but what can you do?


	3. Hats that Sing

New chappie to keep me sane during the first week of the semester (which is going to be a killer)! Enjoy!

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All the first years had been gathered and were being lectured by a stern woman with a very tight bun. Lexie was reminded a little bit of a younger Mrs. Tobias. Perhaps this is why she wasn't trembling like a lot of the other first years who quite frankly looked terrified. Lexie couldn't remember the woman's name, she had been too entranced by the castle to really pay attention.

She turned to a boy behind her and whispered, "Psst… do you remember her name? I wasn't really paying attention."

The boy concealed a grin, "Professor Mcgonagall I think she said it was."

Lexie quietly thanked him and turned forward only to be tapped on the back by the boy, "Frank Longbottom, nice to meet you."

Lexie smiled, making friends seemed a lot easier than she though, "Lexie Hall, it's a pleasure."

Frank smiled back and the two faced front as the students started walking towards two very large wooden doors. They were ushered inside and Lexie felt her jaw drop. The room was huge! In fact she would even go as far as saying that 'huge' was an understatement. Students were sitting along four long tables and towards the front she could see Professor Dumbledore sitting with a group of other adults towards the front.

Lexie let her gaze travel from the students and up the walls towards the ceiling, her eyes practically bulging out of her head when she noticed the ceiling mimicked the night's sky. "Wow" she breathed transfixed by the sky. They were led towards the front of the hall where an old hat sat perched on a stool. All be damned, James and Sirius appeared to have been right.

Once the first years were all lined up near the hat she watched in awe as the hat appeared to sing.

A/N: Okay, I know this is the sorting hat song from the first book, I'm too lazy to come up with my own song and this one works well enough. Thank JK for the witty song, not me.

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can top them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a steady mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

The hall broke out in applause while Lexie was too stunned to really have a reaction. She had just witnessed a hat singing. Singing! Clearly there was a lot more to this magic thing than she had ever anticipated. Mcgonagall then stepped up with a scroll of parchment and read from the paper, "Avery, Jared"

Lexie watched as one of the boys made his way forward and sat on the stool. Mcgonagall stuck the hat on his head and Lexie only had to wait a couple seconds before that hat belted out "SLYTHERIN!" Mcgonagall took the hat from his head and the boy made his way towards the only table cheering and took a seat. That was the house James and Sirius didn't seem too fond of, but to Lexie they didn't look too bad. Some seemed a little sullen, but maybe they were just hungry since a few students at the other tables had bored looks on their faces. Lexie watched as a couple other students were sorted before Mcgonagall called out "Black, Sirius." The hall had gone quiet again and Lexie saw the Slytherin table eyeing Sirius as he stepped forward.

Lexie watched as Sirius approached the stool and couldn't help but think how incredibly nervous he looked. In fact, for the first time she noticed that almost all of the first years looked nervous to be sorted. Lexie couldn't see why, all they had to do was stick an old hat on their head, not exactly hard work. She then remembered what Sirius had said about his whole family being Slytherin, although she still wasn't sure what was wrong with that house. She watched as the hat was slid onto Sirius' head covering his eyes and waited.

Unlike the first boy, Sirius' sorting took a little longer but soon enough it called out in a clear voice "GRYFFINDOR!" Lexie smiled, she knew he was almost certain he would be Slytherin. She watched as Sirius smiled looking relived, although he looked a little shocked as well and went to join the Gryffindor table while the Slytherin table looked a little taken aback and their sullen looks deepened.

Lexie waited patiently while more students were sorted, each table cheering when their house called out. She noticed a red headed girl step forward when "Evans, Lily" was called and Lexie recalled seeing this girl in her dreams as well, there was no mistaking that red hair and emerald eyes. She was also sent into Gryffindor.

Soon enough Mcgonagall called out "Hall, Alexandria." Lexie rolled her eyes, this woman was more like Mrs. Tobias than she though and she was not about to be called Alexandria for seven years. Right as Mcgonagall was about to place the hat on her head she said in a clear voice, "Actually it's Lexie if you don't mind."

Mcgonagall paused as she surveyed Lexie from behind her glasses, Lexie hadn't thought her voice had carried that much but the rest of the first years were snickering and Dumbledore sent her a discrete wink from the head table. The other students in the hall appeared not to hear her as they were all looking forward with puzzled expressions on their faces wondering why Mcgonagall had paused. Mcgonagall blinked once more and that seemed to bring her back to the present and remembering where she was she stuck the hat on Lexie's head without even acknowledging what Lexie had said.

"_Hm very interesting_" said a voice in her ear, Lexie shook her head slightly wondering If she was imagining things. "_No dear, not imagining things at all. Quite bright, yes very bright indeed, although you haven't really had a chance to show it yet. Ravenclaw might do you well. Oh what's this, you have some interesting blood in you, wouldn't have expected that. I'll have to consider Slytherin as well, though you probably won't do as well there. You don't seem to have quite the personality for it. Plenty of courage though, you've been through quite an ordeal and managed to get away, yes very brave. Not very loyal to others though, not that you've had others you could count on. With the right friends you could be though. Hufflepuff won't do, you're much too bold. Hm, this is one of my toughest decisions yet, better be_ - GRYFFINDOR!"

Lexie grinned and swept the hat off her head unaware that she had once again pulled a fast one on Mcgonagall who had been reaching to take it. Lexie hopped off the stool and placed the hat in Mcgonagall's outstretched hands as she headed towards the Gryffindor table. The applause had stopped as the whole hall was now watching Mcgonagall who once again looked dumbfounded by this girl and soon every house was chuckling, even several of the Slytherins had joined in.

Without realizing it, Lexie had officially left the realm of a 'nobody' first year and now many students were trying to remember her name to congratulate her on rendering Mcgonagall speechless. Lexie grinned as she sat down next to Sirius whose grey eyes were dancing with amusement at the girl who was brimming with spunk. "So you managed to get yourself into Gryffindor, what did you do? Bribe the hat?" Lexie asked him.

Sirius scoffed, "Didn't have to" he grew a little more solemn, "it was close though, could have gone either way I suppose. I certainly know why you're a Gryffindor, you managed to stump Mcgonagall and embarrass her in front of the whole school. Twice! If that doesn't show bravery I don't know what does. What'd you say to her anyway?"

Lexie looked confused for a second before she shrugged, "Just told her to call me Lexie is all. Didn't know she'd take it like that."

Sirius chuckled; he found Lexie's bluntness oddly refreshing, even more amusing that Lexie was so nonchalant about the whole thing. There was definitely something about her that interested him and he knew she was someone he wanted to be friends with. He thought back to first seeing her though and thought it was odd she had stared at him so intently before, almost like she was suspicious of him. Sirius wasn't sure why that was and decided maybe she was just nervous to start Hogwarts.

Lexie and Sirius returned their attention to the sorting and applauded loudly when both Remus and James made their way to the Gryffindor table sitting across from them with huge grins. When at last Lucy Zeller was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Dumbledore stood once the applause from the Hufflepuffs had died down.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts and welcome new students! First off I would like to welcome Professor Magnus who will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." He gestured to a stern looking man with a carefully trimmed goatee to his left. "I have plenty more to say, but now is not the time since I am sure your stomachs can't wait any longer so enjoy the feast."

Lexie watched in awe as food filled up the entire table, she had a feeling it would take a while for her to adjust to magic, everything seemed completely surreal. Feeling like she was dreaming again, Lexie turned to Sirius who was already loading up his plate, "Sirius, can you pinch me really quick?"

Sirius frowned and looked at her, "Why?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming."

Sirius just laughed his bark like laugh and instead of pinching her he stuck a piece of biscuit into her still somewhat gaping mouth, "If you were dreaming would you taste that?" he asked grinning.

Lexie swallowed and grinned, "Nah, probably not. You're going to pay for that you know, it's rude to shove things in other people's mouths."

"Well I had to get you to close it somehow, you were starting to look like a fish out of water."

Lexie just sneered at him and turned to add food to her own plate, she was never allowed to just take as much of anything that she wanted and she planned on taking full advantage of the situation.

James laughed as he watched Lexie cram her plate with food, "Geez Lexie, I don't even think Sirius can eat that much." Remus and Sirius' laughter joined his and Lexie just scowled at them, her mouth stuffed with food and her cheeks puffed out making them laugh even harder. She ignored them and went back to eating, she planned on completely stuffing herself, she didn't know how long this would last and figured she could get at least one good meal out of it. To the boys surprise she was able to clear her plate and when desert came she even managed some custard and treacle tart.

"Wow, I don't think I will ever underestimate you ever again," James said in complete awe.

Sirius was also staring at her, "Where do you even put it all? You're tiny!"

Lexie felt her mood drop a little, she knew she was tiny for her age, no doubt from years spent at the orphanage where food wasn't exactly abundant only to be starved by Celine followed by a brief period living out of rubbish bins. When Lexie couldn't take another bite she pushed her plate away and slumped on the bench, her head resting on her arms.

"Ugh, I feel kind of ill."

The boys chuckled, "well that's what you get for eating enough to feed a hippogriff, I still can't believe you ate it all" James said amused.

Lexie frowned not sure what a hippogriff was but didn't think opening her mouth was such a good idea at the time.

Sirius looked at Lexie with a weary expression, "Lexie you look a little green, if you're just going to empty it all back on the table please don't do it towards me."

Lexie closed her eyes and mumbled, "Hush Sirius, there will be no discussing that. At least until I feel like it won't come true." Lexie kept her head resting on the table, she was already feeling a little better, just as long as she didn't have to make any sudden movements. So much for her brilliant plan to take advantage of the situation.

The boys were still regarding her carefully, just in case they had to move out of her way very quickly, at least her face was returning to its normal color. The food had disappeared and Dumbledore had risen once again.

"As a reminder remember that the forbidden forest is strictly forbidden and for a list of banned items please refer to Mr. Filch's door. That is all, goodnight."

Immediately students began standing to leave, the prefects trying to gather the first years while the Head Boy and Girl stood by to try and limit the chaos.

"Come on Lexie, it's time to go to the dormitories." Sirius said gently to the girl.

Lexie didn't respond right away and Sirius wondered if she had been sleeping, then she grumbled, "No you go, I'll just stay here a bit longer."

"Come on silly, you'll feel better once you start moving."

"Nah uh, pretty sure I'll feel worse."

Sirius looked at Remus and James wondering what to do, both shrugged. Sirius sighed, he wasn't about to leave her here alone and knew she'd never make it to the common room by herself. He stood up and gently wrapped his arms around her pulling her up.

"Sirius" she whined, "What are you doing?"

Sirius just smiled, "Come on, you can lean on me, but we have to follow the prefects."

Lexie did just that, putting almost all her weight onto Sirius as he put a firm arm around her shoulders and she stumbled forward. Never again she thought, a full stomach was not worth it.

Lexie kept her eyes closed while Sirius guided her with James and Remus trying to contain their laughter. They reached the portrait hole along with the other students where they were told the password by the prefects and ushered inside. Sirius had to half carry Lexie just to get her all the way through the portrait hole and he set her down on one of the couches and plopped down next to her. Another boy was already sitting on one of the surrounding armchairs and James and Remus took two of the others.

The boy was shorter than the other three and looked surprised that they had sat next to him. He noticed the girl slumped on the couch and his curiosity got the better of him, "Is she okay? She looks kind of ill."

Remus smiled while James and Sirius laughed, "She ate too much at the feast, she's feeling a little queasy. I'm Remus Lupin by the way."

"Peter Pettigrew."

Sirius and James both introduced themselves still chuckling at the girl on the couch, "Oh shut up you two, it's not that funny."

Lexie was feeling a little better, the walk over had done her some good and she opened her eyes looking at the new addition to their group, "Lexie Hall, it's nice to meet you Peter."

"I'm sorry you're feeling ill, being sick isn't too much fun. I'm sure it will pass by morning though, I sometimes eat too much at times too."

"Thanks Peter, I'm glad someone can offer me a little sympathy" she replied glaring at the boys laughing.

Peter gave her a kind smile.

"Well now that you've gained the ability to speak again, I don't feel so bad about heading off to bed," said Sirius while James and Remus tried to hold in yawns.

Lexie realized just how exhausted she was as well and the five slowly got to their feet and ambled towards their respective staircases muttering a goodnight.

Lexie followed hers up and noticed a door marking the first year dormitory and made her way inside to where her trunk was waiting at the foot of one of the beds. Too exhausted to change she just pulled her robes off and kicked off her shoes before falling onto the soft mattress. Her eyes fluttered shut and she gave way to her dreams, dreams that had unexpectedly come true.

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I really need to have my parents ship my HP books… I've decided that would make writing this so much easier… lol. The next chapter could take a while since I'm already packed with work... never major in science ever! Hah... joking, kind of.


	4. Dreams and Nicknames

I am so sorry for how long it took me to update this! Senior year of college is absolutely crazy. I haven't given up on this story, not in a long shot, it's just going to take a while to get it done. I'm not really happy with this chapter, but to be honest it will be a couple more chapters before I get to something I actually want to write about since right now it's just character development and back story.

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"_You're late" said the harsh voice that Lexie had quickly come to fear. Lexie glanced at the tall blonde woman on the couch, her stomach clenching when she saw the cold look in the woman's blue eyes. _

"_I got detention." Lexie replied having learned it was better to just be honest and not bother with excuses. The woman's lips formed a cruel sneer, "I don't want excuses girl, when I told you to be home everyday by 3 I meant it."_

"_It wasn't an-" suddenly the woman had stood and Lexie found herself taking a timid step back. She hated how afraid she was, she should be braver than the cowering girl she had turned in to. Lexie didn't even feel the pain from the slap, she had already gotten used to them. _

"_What did I say about excuses girl? Kitchen. Laundry." When Lexie didn't move immediately the icy blue eyes narrowed. "GO! NOW!" Lexie quickly made her way to the end of the hallway and hauled the laundry basket to the washer in the kitchen and hastily tossed everything. When she turned around she met those icy eyes again, this time sparkling with hidden malice. Lexie tried to control her heartbeat, but she knew what was coming. Pain. Expecting the worst Lexie braced herself against the counter and waited, when nothing happened she looked up almost quizzically at the expression she had come to fear more than the woman who wore it. _

"_We're going to a party" the cold voice told her. _

_Lexie frowned, this was definitely different. She was normally left behind to do the washing and clean up whenever there was a party. _

"_Did you hear me girl? Or have you lost the ability to speak? Go find something that won't embarrass me and let's go. Take the punch bowl, let's go, move!" _

_Lexie scampered down the hall to her dingy bedroom to try and scrap up something to wear. She didn't have much to choose from since she only had what few clothes the orphanage had given her. She dug out an old navy sweater and her best pair of jeans, at least they were only frayed at the bottoms and the knees were still intact. Lexie quickly dressed not exactly sure what was going on, combed out her lackluster hair and tossed on her plain black flats. This would have to do. She quickly made her way back to the kitchen and grabbed the crystal bunch bowl from the cabinets. The icy blues eyes still watching her, still glittering with hatred. Lexie stood in front of her not sure what she should do._

"_Let's go. Move."_

_Lexie obeyed and quickly made her way to the door and stepped out into the concrete hallway. The apartment complex was about as cheerful as Lexie's situation. The cold eyes followed her as she carefully held the punch bowl to her chest and made her way to the stairs, also concrete. Lexie clutched the bowl harder, there would be a murder should she drop it. _

_Just as Lexie took a step forward to begin her way down the stairs she felt a sharp shove from behind her. Lexie gasped and tried to keep her balance without dropping the bowl, but like everything else in her life, gravity was against her. Before Lexie could comprehend the situation, she was toppling down the stairs, her only thoughts swirling in her head were of the punch bowl and trying to prevent it from breaking. Lexie felt pain radiating through her limbs and gasped as she felt her whole world spin completely out of control quite literally. _

_She must have blacked out because when she opened her eyes she was at the bottom of the first landing. The first thing she registered was that her whole body felt like it was on fire, everything from her palms to her chest was radiating with pain. Lexie gritted her teeth trying to somehow manage the pain. She looked down and found her eyes immediately filling with tears, the punch bowl had not made the fall, the evidence being the delicate shards now piercing her flesh and causing the concrete around her to glitter. If Lexie wasn't so terrified she might have appreciated the rainbows being casted onto the walls from the millions of prisms that were scattered around her bleeding body. _

_Lexie felt a sharp pain at the crown of her head and found her whole body shaking with fear as she looked up into those icy blue eyes. Eyes that didn't need words to express their murderous intent. _

Lexie woke with a start. She hadn't dreamt of Celine since she had escaped the horrible place that had been assigned as "home" and she tried to stop the shakes that were reverberating through her body.

Lexie raised herself to a sitting position and pressed her hands against her eyes willing herself not to cry. She was at Hogwarts. She was safe. There's no Celine anymore. Deciding that she should try to calm herself down further before attempting sleep again Lexie swung her legs over the side of her bed and crept to the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face and patted it dry before creeping down the staircase to the common room. The room had been deserted but the fire was still going and Lexie sat on the floor in front of the hot flames using them to comfort her.

"What are you doing down here?" asked a voice behind her.

Still focused on her dream Lexie jumped and turned to see Sirius sitting on an armchair in the corner, she breathed a sigh of relief. After her heart had calmed slightly she answered "Couldn't sleep, you?"

Sirius shrugged, "something like that."

Lexie nodded, for some reason the dream had left her feeling awkward in front of Sirius. The comfortable banter that had taken place on the train and at dinner had dissipated and for the first time at Hogwarts Lexie felt like maybe she wasn't supposed to be here. She turned back to the fire and debated whether she should just head back upstairs. Sirius' voice interrupted her thoughts "I'm worried about tomorrow."

Lexie turned slightly, Sirius' eyebrows were knitted together and he looked troubled. Lexie wasn't expecting someone like Sirius to be worried about school, but she didn't exactly know him well and the expression on his face made her feel like she should offer some form of comfort. She moved closer to the chair Sirius was sitting in and sat on the couch next to him.

"I'm sure it will be fine, school is school wherever you are really" Lexie paused remembering that this wasn't exactly an ordinary school and opened her mouth to try and come up with something else to say but was interrupted, "I'm not worried about classes. I'm worried-" Sirius paused debating with himself whether he should continue, "I'm worried about being in Gryffindor."

Remembering the sorting hat's song Lexie laughed at the irony causing Sirius' frown to deepen, "Sorry" she said noticing his peeved expression, "it's just kind of ironic, you being in Gryffindor and being afraid of being in Gryffindor. I mean we're supposed to be brave or something right? Not that I'm brave either" she added more to herself thinking of all the times she had flinched or fluttered like a leaf while Celine abused her.

Lexie looked up to see Sirius with a small smile gracing his face, "I guess it is kind of funny" he replied. "Tell you what, how about we begin acting like true Gryffindors then and stop being sissies."

Lexie smiled back and reached out her hand, "Deal, I will not be a sissy Gryffindor if you won't."

Sirius looked at her hand with his eyebrows raised, "Yeah, I don't think I want your girl germs, but okay, it's a deal."

Lexie scowled and her eyes filled with amusement, "What's that I heard? You're _afraid_ of my hand? Wow Sirius, you know you're even more of a coward than I thought."

Sirius scowled and grabbed her hand shaking it hard "No, I am not."

Lexie grinned, "Plus, you touched me earlier so you're practically immune to me now anyways."

Sirius grumbled, "Yeah whatever, I'm going to bed" and he stood up and made his way towards the staircase Lexie assumed led to the boy's dormitories. Before climbing the steps her turned back to look at Lexie who was staring into the fire again, "Thanks Lexie."

Lexie turned back towards Sirius, "For what? My brilliance?"

Sirius didn't smile this time at her cockiness but instead looked at her with a more relaxed expression and shrugged, "For showing me what it's like to be in Gryffindor. Really, thanks for cheering me up."

Lexie shrugged and watched as Sirius made his way up the stairs not sure why their brief conversation made him so grateful. Lexie stood up and stretched deciding she should try to get some sleep before classes the next day. She sighed and also climbed up the stairs to her respective dormitory where she collapsed into bed.

In what felt like only a couple minutes Lexie felt someone gently nudge her awake. She cracked open her eyes trying to adjust to the light now streaming into the room and looked up blearily at the girl with the full head of red hair.

"You should get ready for breakfast soon, the other girls have already left and there's some boys down in the common room asking where you are" the girl said in a kind voice.

Lexie slowly sat up and stretched, rolling her shoulders and trying to take in the unfamiliar settings. She looked back up at the red head, this was the same girl who she had seen the night before and recognized from a couple of her dreams.

"Sorry, who are you again?"

The girl looked a little taken aback but gave Lexie a kind smile before extending her hand, "Lily, Lily Evans. You're Alexandria right?"

Lexie gently took Lily's hand, "Lexie actually. Thanks for uh, waking me. I probably would have slept right through half the day if you hadn't."

"It's no problem, plus those boys were trying to figure out how to get up the stairs so I thought it best I did it before they caused any more trouble. Are you friends with them then?"

"I met them on the train" said Lexie changing her clothes from the previous day to new ones and grabbing her discarded robes and shoes from the floor.

"Oh. Well they seem, um, lively" Lily said a little hesitant, afraid to tell Lexie that she really thought they were just very immature. Of course what eleven year old boys weren't?

Lexie laughed, "I'm sure they can be, if I know anything about boys they love to get into trouble."

"That doesn't bother you? I mean, it's just I wouldn't ever want to get into trouble."

Lexie shrugged, she had definitely gotten into trouble before, at least this time she didn't have to worry about being beaten for it. Lexie ran her fingers through her hair and headed to the bathrooms to clean up a little shouting back to Lily, "You don't have to wait up if you don't want to, I'm sure you're just as hungry as me, no need for my lateness to make you late too."

Lily took that as her cue to leave, Lexie seemed perfectly content going down with the boys and didn't seem to be as thrilled on talking to her. Lily found that behavior odd, she didn't really know of any eleven year old girl who would prefer the company of boys, but she had grown up with a sister and didn't really know any better.

"She'll be down soon," she said to the boys at the bottom of the stairs before exiting out the portrait hole. Lily felt a little unwelcome in their already formed friendship and went to find the other girls from the dorm deciding they were probably better company anyways.

Lexie was about to skip down the stairs when she noticed the gleaming handrail and let a wicked smile cross her face, there was no Mrs. Tobias to yell at her here. Lexie tested it out, seemed sturdy enough, and with a whoop she pushed herself away from the wall and found herself hurdling towards the bottom. Lexie laughed the entire way down, the banister at the orphanage was not nearly as polished as this one and she actually felt her hair fly behind her as she picked up speed. According to Lexie, too soon did she reach the bottom. What she didn't anticipate were the three boys close to the stairs waiting for her and she bowled right into Remus falling across his lap as he hit the floor.

"Ow, what the – Lexie what in Merlin's name are you doing?" he asked rubbing his side trying to dislodge the girls bony elbows from his ribs.

Lexie was laughing even harder and jumped up trying to pull Remus with her, "Owwww, Lexie, that's my arm attached to me if you don't mind."

"Oops, sorry Remie, didn't see you there. Guess we're even then huh?"

Remus got to his feet still rubbing his side, Lexie sure was bony.

"Remie?" asked Sirius who was standing with James watching the whole situation with a smirk on his face.

Lexie glanced at Sirius not sure if she should bring up last night and shrugged, "Sure why not, and you can be Siri and James can be Jamsie."

James looked appalled, "What's wrong with our original names? Jamsie sounds like a girl's name" he said with his face contorted with disgust.

Lexie shrugged again, "Nothin' it's just habit I guess, all the err, kids where I live seem to have nicknames is all."

Avoiding Lexie's uncomfortable look when she mentioned 'the kids' Sirius asked, "Well then what do we call you?"

"Lexie is already short for Alexandria, see I already have a nickname."

Sirius shook his head, "How much do I have to pay you not to call me Siri?"

Lexie grinned, "A couple chocolate frogs a day should do."

Sirius laughed, "Deal."

"Hey" James whined, "I don't want a nickname either."

Lexie huffed, "Fine no nicknames. Jeez, here I thought I was just trying to make you feel special. Guess I should go now since my input is clearly not wanted" and she stalked to the portrait hole wondering if the boys would take her outburst seriously. Lexie found herself completely lost once she had stepped out into the corridor. She definitely did not remember how to get back to the Great Hall from here.

"Completely lost without us?" James asked from behind her with a smirk on his face, "I'll show you the way to the Great Hall if you drop the nicknames."

Lexie rolled her eyes, "I was just joking, I would never call you something if you didn't like it. Didn't you realize how much I hate my full name? Honestly James" she said shaking her head.

"I hate to break up yet another nickname battle, but you realize breakfast doesn't last forever and we still need our timetable right?" said Remus politely.

"Oh fine Remie, lead the way James."

"I thought you said you were going to drop the nicknames?" Remus asked scowling.

Lexie smiled at him, "well let's see, Sirius is giving me chocolate, James is leading me to the Great Hall, and you are-" she paused, "Oh that's right, you aren't doing anything for me so until then you're still going to be Remie to me!"

"What if I showed you to the Great Hall before James?"

"What? Not fair, that was my deal with Lexie! You can't steal it, some friend you are!" James protested.

"Not if I show her first!" declared Remus grabbing Lexie's arm and dragging her to the direction of the Great Hall. Not about to be outdone, James grabbed Lexie's other arm and began tugging her faster. Soon James and Remus were trying to outrun each other while Lexie, not wanting to be dragged behind them, ran along side them, her laughter echoing though the hallway at their silliness. At least they appeared completely unfazed by her "girl germs."

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Yeah, not so happy with this one like I said before, this is what happens when I need to get from point A to C without planning anything in between. I do have to say a hugethank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed! Trust me I won't be abandoning this anytime soon so I'm glad you've stuck around. Hopefully it will get better. You have to realize the only thing I've written in four years has been lab reports, I'm bound to be crap when I begin writing stories again.


	5. Long First Day

So I wrote this chapter in bits and pieces since that seems to be the only way for me to post on a somewhat frequent basis so it may be a tad scattered. Once again, I don't edit my stuff since that's too much work for me (sorry I'm too lazy) and I write this purely for enjoyment and don't have any plans on being a writer so unfortunately you'll have to deal with my grammatical and spelling errors. To try to make up for the bad, I made this chapter on the long side since I try to reward you all for the great feedback and comments (even if there are just a few of you out there). Enjoy!

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Lexie, James, and Remus reached the Great Hall out of breath and immediately James turned to Remus and declared that he had won. Remus sighed, "Fine, I guess I'm stuck with my nickname."

Lexie smiled, "Oh Remie, I knew I liked you best for a reason," she said slinging her arm around his waist. Remus immediately stiffened; being touched by anyone especially a girl wasn't exactly a common occurrence for him.

"What do you mean you like him best? I thought I was your favorite, I did make sure you got back to the common room last night didn't I?" a voice said behind Lexie. She turned and saw Sirius walking towards them looking like he hadn't even had to run to catch up.

Lexie lifted her finger to her chin and stroked it, "Hm, you make a good point Sirius, I mean we did have that little heart to heart and all. So I guess at one point you were my favorite, but since you can't seem to keep up with us and came in last I've decided you're the weak link of the group." She grinned at him and added, "Plus, you're afraid of me and I just can't bring myself to like a coward."

Sirius pouted, "I shook your hand though remember? I thought we agreed I was brave!"

James and Remus looked confused at the exchange, they had no idea what conversation the two were referring to but didn't bother figuring out what was going on.

Lexie shrugged, "Remie's still my favorite, he did let me keep his nickname after all. Now did we come here to whine or to eat?"

"To eat!" declared James grabbing her arm glad that Lexie was back to talking about something he actually understood. James pulled a laughing Lexie to the Gryffindor table. Lexie recognized the other boy from the night before and sat next to him, "Peter Pettigrew right? Great alliteration by the way" she added as an afterthought.

Peter looked at Lexie timidly "Uh, yeah I suppose. You're um feeling better then?"

"What's an alliteration?" James asked out loud.

Lexie just ignored him and continued her conversation with Peter "Yup, I learned my less-" she paused noticing the array of breakfast foods covering the table. Breakfast food had always been her favorite. "Aw come on, now I'll be forced to eat a lot again and then I'll get sick again. Can't they just serve toast or something?"

Sirius, who had seated himself across from her smirked, "Women, no self control I tell you."

Before Sirius could move Lexie had stood up and reached over the table and smacked the back of his head, "Hey watch it. You aren't exactly earning any points here. At this rate you'll be ditched by noon."

Sirius' smirk had turned into a frown and he grew quiet, a small voice in his head reminding him yet again that he wouldn't fit in Gryffindor. Already Lexie was talking about abandoning him. Maybe he was too much of a Slytherin for this house. Lexie noticed Sirius' mood drop and immediately felt bad, especially after her conversation with him the night before.

"Sirius I'm sorry, I didn't mean it honest. I'm just joking with you."

"Yeah, cheer up mate, if anyone is going to be ditched it's Lexie here because she's a girl. I'd pick you over a girl anytime" added James clapping Sirius on the back.

Lexie glared at James, "Keep it up and you'll be back to being Jamie to me" she warned ignoring the horrified look that once again graced James' face before turning to Peter and asking, "So Peter, how do you feel about nicknames?"

"Uhm, they're okay I guess. If they're nice ones I mean. A lot of nicknames aren't really nice though."

"Hm, you do make a good point," she mused while piling eggs on top of her toast, "What about Pete? Can I call you that?"

"Well uh, my grandmum calls me that so I guess it's not too horrid or anything. Not as bad as Jamie anyway" he added as an afterthought.

James scowled while Lexie just laughed, "Well I'd hate to remind you of your grandmum, oh well I'll come up with something another time."

"What no Petey?" asked Sirius, "You seem to have a knack for giving the rest of us repulsive names."

"Nah, doesn't suit him. Anyways, enough about nicknames, what do you think classes are going to be like? I'm hoping to slay some fire-breathing dragons or maybe we'll get to turn each other into frogs. I wonder what they even teach, I mean all this time I was convinced witches had warts and melted when you poured water on them or something, but obviously that doesn't happen since I haven't melted yet. Hey do you think some witches do? I mean maybe just the evil ones?"

"Um Lexie?" asked Remus timidly.

"Yeah Remie?" she replied ignoring his scowl at his nickname.

"Well judging by the looks on Sirius, James, and Peter's faces not only do we not have a clue what you're going on about but you're also talking way too fast for us to even comprehend half of it" he answered logically.

The other three boys nodded while shooting perplexed looks at one another.

"Oh come on, Wizard of Oz, haven't you seen it?"

They all shook their heads looking at her like maybe they should have ditched her when they had the chance, she was a girl after all and therefore a little crazy.

Lexie scoffed, "Well that's just pathetic. Oh look, here comes that McGonwhatsit woman. Does she ever smile you think? I wonder if she'd melt if I poured water on her."

"I dare you to, I bet she'll catch on fire instead" challenged James looking mischievous.

"Catch on fire? Really James did you not listen to a word I said? The dragons are the ones who breathe fire."

Sirius exchanged a quick glance at James and grinned before adding "No, I'm with James, I think she'll breathe fire not melt. It's too bad we'll never get a chance to prove it."

Remus just looked between the two with his eyebrows raised while Peter was frowning and still trying to work out how water could cause anyone to melt in the first place.

"Alex- Lexie Hall, your timetable" said McGonagall as she approached the section of their table and handed Lexie a piece of parchment. The boys received theirs as well and Lexie, remembering their conversation, waited until McGonagall had turned away from her before she _innocently_, yet skillfully, knocked her water right off the table sending it flying at McGonagall's back. Right as the goblet hit the back of McGonagall's robes Lexie began apologizing profusely while the boys tried to hold in their laughter.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry professor McGonag-what was your name again? Anyways, I wasn't watching where my elbow was and the goblet just flew off the table. I hope I didn't ruin your robes or anything, at least you didn't melt though right?" she said in her most angelic voice, the one she always used on Mrs. Tobias when she got in trouble.

However, while this voice never worked on Mrs. Tobias who knew Lexie too well, McGonagall merely took out her wand and cast a simple drying spell before telling Lexie to be more careful next time and restating her name before walking towards the next group of students.

"Whoa wicked, did you see that?" Lexie asked turning back towards the boys who were now cracking smiles.

"See what? The lack of melting?" asked James with a smirk.

"Well yeah that too, but I mean she just dried it. Just like that! Amazing. I hope I get to learn how to do that. Oh and she didn't ignite either you know so you and Sirius were just as wrong so there! Girls rule and boys drool, ha!"

Sirius snorted, "You act like you've never seen a simple drying spell before."

"I do not drool," said James in an offended voice.

"A what spell? Holy crap she did a spell! Wow I can't believe I get to cast spells! Do you think they'll teach us that on our first day? What other spells do you know? Can you turn people into things? Like frogs? I wonder if I could turn Mrs. Tobias into a frog, not that she'd like that too much, but it would be bloody hilarious…" Lexie finished with a curious look on her face.

"You're doing it again," mumbled Peter.

"Doing what?"

"Talking way too fast for any normal person to understand a word of what you're saying" answered Remus again in the same logical voice he had used before.

Lexie scoffed, "Well I can't help it if you're all slow minded. Really though, so about the spells, do you think they'll teach us some today?"

"Mates I think she just insulted our intelligence," stated James.

Lexie slapped her palms against the table frustrated "Stop ignoring my question! Maybe if you answered me for once I might not insult you. Now the spells do you-"

"Yes," interrupted Sirius exasperated, "You will be learning spells here, now would you calm down woman, you're making me barmy by just talking."

"Hmfph, like you need my help" Lexie mumbled.

"Anyways" James said quite loudly ignoring Lexie, "Let's see what they'll torture us with first shall we?"

He unrolled the parchment and glanced at his schedule, "Potions, hm. I've heard about the professor from my dad, apparently he looks like a walrus or something."

Lexie looked up from her own schedule, "He's a walrus? Wow, this magic stuff is crazy, I had no idea they could talk let alone teach."

"I said he _looked_ like a walrus, not that he is one. Do you have hearing problems?"

Lexie's reply was cut short by Sirius' groan, "It's with the Slytherins too, this should be a hoot. Just put me in a cage with some rampaging hippogriffs or something. Maybe then there won't even be a body to recover to be sent home to my mum."

"I don't see what's so bad about them and they do have really nice green ties. I kind of wish my tie was green, red isn't really my favorite color…" pondered Lexie aloud.

"You what? You're considering joining a bunch of prejudiced wackos because of color preference?" Sirius all but shouted.

"As scintillating as this conversation is, everyone is leaving" pointed out Remus, having clearly taken on the voice of reason in the group.

"Ah shit, I didn't even get to finish my toast and eggs," grumbled Lexie.

"W-What did you just say?" Peter stuttered choking on the pumpkin juice he had just drank.

"Are you even a girl? You just swore. You're eleven and you just swore? Are we even supposed to know what those words mean enough to use them in a sentence?" said James trying to keep the awe out of his voice. This was definitely not an ordinary girl.

"Oh get over it guys, like you've never heard any swears before. Uncultured lot you are. Come on you nitwits before we're late."

"I am not a nitwit," Sirius said with a frown.

Lexie scoffed, "Not the point Sirius, let's go, almost everyone's gone by now."

The four boys stood and followed Lexie out of the Great Hall, for someone so incredibly small she was incredibly demanding. They couldn't help but enjoy her oddities though.

The five followed the group of other Gryffindor first years through the stone corridors until they reached what definitely seemed like the coldest corridor in the entire castle and were and entered a dimly lit room with stone tables. The five found empty seats near the back and after a small dispute over who got to sit where, they plopped down on the cold chairs shivering from the damp air. Almost at once everyone bent over and started digging through their school bags.

Lexie sat awkwardly while everyone around her began rummaging for things pulling out textbooks, rolls of parchment, bottles of ink, and quills. She hadn't thought to bring a single thing to class, in fact she didn't even remember if Dumbledore had bought any school supplies. Well if the whole sorting hat fiasco didn't make her stand out this definitely would. Lexie started to worry about what other people would start to think, would they realize she didn't have a penny to her name and was completely abandoned? Just then the doors opened and Lexie watched as a round man with a bristly mustache made his way to the front of the room. She had to remind herself to snap her jaw shut, James' description couldn't have been more accurate, this man exuded every bit of the walrus image that he had been described as.

The large man cleared his throat when he reached the front, "Hello new students and welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Professor Slughorn and for those of you who show an aptitude at potions you may be privileged enough to join the Slug Club. You there in the middle row, you look a little familiar, who were your parents boy?"

The boy in question, a thin boy with pallid skin and chin length black hair who was sitting next to the red-headed girl that had woken Lexie up replied in a nervous voice barely audible to the rest of the class "Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape."

"Hm, never heard of Snape, but Price I've heard bits about her, there's a trophy with her name on it somewhere in this place." Slughorn mumbled almost to himself, "And you in the back, your name please?"

Lexie froze not wanting to give away anything about her to this man who seemed more interested in who her parents might have been instead of who she was but managed to stumble through her name "L-Lexie Hall."

Slughorn frowned and in the same thoughtful voice he mumbled, "Never heard of any Halls. Anyways girl, why don't you have a book or at least some parchment?"

Lexie swallowed trying to compose herself, "I um, forgot them. Sir" she added trying to come across polite, "You see I didn't think to bring a pen with me because I was so excited to begin class."

Slughorn frowned again, "A pen? What's that?"

This time it was Lexie's turn to frown, however one glance around the room reminded her that everyone was writing with quills, "It's something to write with in the um, I guess you'd say nonmagical world sir."

"Oh ho! Of course, a writing material used by muggles! You must be muggle born then?" Slughorn exclaimed while the Slytherins sneered.

Lexie had no idea what muggle born meant and quickly looked at Sirius panicked, he seemed to catch on to her confusion and discretely nodded his head trying to convey that she was in fact 'muggle born.'

"Uh, yes sir. That's me I guess."

"Well as much as I admire your enthusiasm and applaud you for your excitement at beginning Hogwarts, only essays written using a quill will be accepted. Oh and Ms. Hall, please do remember to contain your excitement next time and bring the proper supplies yes?"

"Yes sir" Lexie answered immediately relieved that the questioning appeared to be over. Slughorn continued to move on to his next 'victims' and became ecstatic when he learned who Sirius was related to along with a few other members of the class who seemed to have successful or well-known relatives. Slughorn ended his lecture by assigning an essay on the roles of dried nettles in a boil-cure potion and sent them on their way. Lexie vowed to search her trunk right away for the potions book and the proper essay writing materials and begin the essay as soon as lessons finished so she could try and prove that a "muggle" could do well at Hogwarts.

Remus was kind enough to let her borrow one of his quills, an ink bottle, and a bit of parchment for their next class which was History of Magic. Lexie was fascinated upon learning the class was taught by a ghost and spent the entire time admiring the professor rather than pay attention to what he was saying vowing to read about it later.

Once they had escaped the stuffy History of Magic classroom they entered Charms where an extremely short man tried to teach them how to levitate feathers. Lexie found the entire ordeal incredibly annoying as she couldn't seem to get the wand movements right and soon only her and Peter hadn't managed to get their feathers to rise. Hers simply caught on fire causing both James and Sirius to be overcome with laughter while Lexie glared at the two. She quickly decided Peter was her new favorite in the group.

(A/N: Remember Peter is indeed a 'normal' eleven year old so let's put our prejudices aside since he doesn't become a traitorous rat until later and pretend we all like him)

Still grumbling about her inability to perform successful magic, Lexie made their way to lunch where she felt too overwhelmed with all the new information thrown at her to pay much attention to what the boys were joking about. After lunch they attended Transfiguration where Lexie was convinced she was going crazy when Professor McGonagall transformed into a cat and back. However, unlike Slughorn McGonagall didn't waste time getting to know everyone and their parents as she seemed to already know more about the students that any of the other professors and Lexie was grateful she didn't get scolded for not having her book.

After Transfiguration the first years were told they were to be escorted outside for flying lessons. As they were walking towards the castle entrance James turned to Lexie, his hazel eyes sparkling with excitement, "You'll love this Lexie, this is the best part of being a wizard!"

"Yes because lighting a stupid feather on fire was just so much fun. Anything that doesn't involve getting scolded by a professor is beginning to look like fun."

"Come on Lexie, it can't be that bad. I mean okay, so Slughorn pointed out you were a muggle in front of the Slytherins and you didn't master your first spell, but flying is great!" James said trying to add a little cheer to her disgruntled expression.

Lexie sighed, "Whatever James, I just want this day to be over."

"I'm sure it won't be too terrible," said Remus, "Remember how excited you were this morning and on the train? I mean maybe you'll be really good at flying and it will make up for the rest."

"Okay, okay, I'm smiling see," she said pointing at the false grin now plastered on her face.

Sirius snorted, "Yeah try not to look that happy, you look a little scary."

Lexie shoved Sirius and laughed grateful she had at least made friends on her first day.

The students were gathered near what to Lexie resembled a shack as a wiry man with a lean build, dark hair and lively blue eyes approached the group.

"Oh Merlin" breathed James, his eyes about to pp out of his head, "That is Josef Wronski! He is going to be giving the lessons! Do you have a quill Remus? I wonder if he'd sign something for me…"

(A/N: Is Josef Wronski really a character in Harry Potter? According to Wikipedia, yes. Was he even alive during the Marauder's era? Did the famous move named after him even exist? Why's he at Hogwarts? No idea, but I had to add something interesting since there aren't evil blonde boys - I heart you Tom Felton - to steal any remembralls to make this interesting. Also for any knowledgeable fans out there, he's Polish but I have no idea how to write in that accent so I won't even try. Now back to the story.)

Lexie's mood dropped at the thought of not knowing about yet another subject but kept her bitterness out of her voice and asked, "Who is Josef Wronski James?"

"Only the inventor of the Wronski Feint! One of the greatest moves of all time for seekers. See one seeker pretends to see the snitch and dives to the ground drawing the other seeking towards the ground as well and before you know it, smack! Into the ground goes the other seeker! It's hard to pull off and bloody brilliant! I can't believe he's giving the lessons! I think normally they have Hooch do them since she referees the matches."

"Oh, uh sounds awesome James," said Lexie trying to understand what was so brilliant about what seemed like a classic diversion tactic.

"Well since you're a girl I don't suppose we'd expect you to understand" said Sirius also staring at the man approaching, "not to mention you weren't raised on Quidditch."

Lexie sighed as she remembered for the thousandth time that day that she knew very little about the magic world. Peter seemed to pick up on her melancholy and offered her a small smile, which she returned, once again glad he had joined their group since he was shy and also seemed to be more timid about being at Hogwarts.

"Hello all. Judging by the looks on some of your faces I trust you know who I am. I'm not here to talk about my career but to teach you to fly, what is in my opinion the only thing you should care about. Sadly your professors think otherwise so don't tell them I said that, but let's get started shall we? Please find a broom and stand next to it until I give you further instructions."

James immediately stood next to the closest broom while Lexie and the other boys found some near his and waited.

"Alright, we've all got broom then? Good, now stick your arm out and say 'up' and your broom should obey. Remember, be confident and forceful!"

James and Sirius along with a few other members of the group had immediate responses from their brooms and were grinning at their success. Lexie was mildly surprised when she was one of the successful students. However, she noticed that some students were not as fortunate. Remus for one looked contemplative as if he were trying to remember something important while his broom stayed decidedly on the ground at his commands.

Once Josef had gone around and helped those in need of help he instructed the students how to mount their brooms. Lexie found her broom incredibly ill proportioned to the rest of her, as she was definitely on the short side. Looking around she was at least reassured that she had positioned herself correctly. They were then instructed how to gently kick off the ground.

"Well here goes," Lexie mumbled to herself and bent her knees and propelled herself forward. Unfortunately she had leaned back too far in the process and before she could even figure out what had happened she had fallen on top of her broom and hit her tailbone right along the length of wood.

"Oh bloody hell" she practically yelled, "fucking piece of wood, you should be lucky you aren't being used to sweep the damn floor you bleeding broom. I should burn you, you stupid idiotic piece of…"

Seeing Lexie fall Josef had immediately rushed to help her up but found himself smiling as the girl continued to curse the broom, "Well if you keep up that kind of language I'm not sure the broom will ever forgive you."

Those who had successfully taken off were now hovering while also watching the scene with small smiles on their faces and trying not to laugh.

"Here, up you go," said Josef gently pulling Lexie up by her elbows, "here why don't you try again?"

"You want me to try again? Are you crazy? That thing tried to break my ass! There is no way I'm getting near it again. Nah uh, you can give it a go but I'm done, I'm quite fond of my tailbone thank you."

Josef smiled while the rest of the class let out a chuckle, "Come on, one more go? Surely you aren't going to give up after one go?"

"Says the guy who didn't fall on his butt," Lexie grumbled, "Fine one more time, but I swear if that thing tries to kill me again I'm using it to clean the floor."

"That's the spirit, here let me help you."

Lexie once again mounted the broom and Josef helped her balance while she pushed off. Lexie found herself hovering along with the rest of the class and holding her breath as she was not used to being suspended above the ground by a wooden stick. James appeared to have no issues with it and was currently making small figure eights while most of the class was just trying to stay on.

"Alright, now that everyone has worked out their issues with their brooms, let's try to steer. So I want you to lean in the direction you want to go and gently direct your broom in that direction with your hands. Mr. Potter over there seems to have mastered it so look how he's gently guiding the broom in the direction he wants to go."

James looked up and grinned pleased that not only did Josef know his name but had just complimented him.

Most of the other first years timidly leaned their brooms forward.

"Well here goes nothing" muttered Lexie and hunched her shoulders while putting all her weight towards the front of the broom. However, unlike the other members of the class who managed to get their brooms to go forward Lexie had leaned to far and fell off once again this time landing on her shoulder.

"Oh this is fucking ridiculous! Forget this, I'm done!" she declared when Josef had rushed forward yet again to help her stand. Lexie rubbed her shoulder which was now sore and glared at the broom which was now hovering on it's own. "That's it, you're going into the fire as kindling tonight you stupid thing" she told the broom viciously.

"Now Ms. Hall, I'm sure if you just practiced a little you-"

Josef was cut off by Lexie's glare, "Are you fucking crazy? Did you not hear me a couple of minutes ago! I told you, one more try and I was done. Well look what happened! I probably broke my shoulder doing what you told me to, crazy Quidditch player, who gives a hoot about a silly diversion move anyways, common sense really. I have better things to do, like my potions essay!" she finished with a pout. This was not how her first day was supposed to go.

Expecting Josef to scold her, Lexie was surprised when he starting laughing, "Ms. Hall I don't think I have ever met someone so incredibly honest, it is a little humbling to be insulted for once while the rest of the world treats me like some sort of hero! However, I would ask that you please try to avoid swearing; unfortunately it might be considered unladylike and improper. As promised you may wait here on the ground for the lesson to finish. I'm afraid if I try to get you back onto the broom both it and I might suffer from your temper."

"Maybe you aren't so stupid. Thank you sir" finished Lexie and sitting on the grass while she watched the rest of the class attempt to master flying.

It was clear that some had flown before and James was clearly a very experienced flyer. Sirius also seemed comfortable on the broom as he and James were tossing pebbles back and forth. Peter looked incredibly uncomfortable, but unlike Lexie he had yet to fall off, he just avoided moving as much as possible. Remus' brows were still drawn together as he concentrated, although he was making progress. Lexie also noticed the red headed girl who was doing well despite having issues getting her broom to jump into her hand at the start of the lesson. Once again Lexie felt incredibly left out since she had discovered yet another thing that every other student seemed to know how to do except her. Finally Josef called the class down and everyone discarded their brooms and began to head back to the Great Hall for supper.

The four boys joined Lexie as she stood to follow the rest of the class.

"Are you okay Lexie? You seem a little sad, I'm sure you'll be better at flying next time" offered Remus.

"No Remie, I've decided there won't be a next time. I just don't think flying is for me."

"How could flying not be for you? It's brilliant!" exclaimed James with a huge smile still plastered on his face.

"Did you not see what happened?" Lexie said looking at him incredulously, "I barely touched the stupid thing and fell off! You expect me to try again after it tried to brutally maul me twice in less than five minutes?"

"Well you were leaning a little too far forward, and when you take off you want to-"

"James, shut up. I know you think flying is the greatest thing on the planet, but I don't care and I'm done. I was given legs for a reason and I plan to use them."

"It was kind of funny though," added Sirius grinning, "I mean if it happened to me you would have laughed and the way you were speaking to the broom? You were bloody hilarious Lexie, I don't think even my mum swears that much and trust me, she yells a lot!"

"No Sirius I don't think it was funny, my ass hurts, my shoulder hurts, and I'm hungry. Maybe if you had fallen off it would have been funny, but I do not find humor in my own pain so pardon me for not finding the ordeal very entertaining."

"I'm sorry Lexie," said Sirius giving her a one armed hug, "I didn't mean to laugh, hey at least we're going to eat right? I mean that fixes one of your problems."

"Yeah, and we won't bug you anymore. I didn't really like flying either," added Peter.

"What is wrong with you people? How could you not like flying?" exclaimed James yet again.

"James just drop it, Lexie obviously doesn't want to talk about it anymore," said Sirius coming to her defense before she even had a chance to retaliate.

"Oh fine, sorry Lexie, I guess I've just been flying for so long I didn't realize how it might be hard for you. I'm sorry okay," huffed James.

Lexie smiled at him, "Thanks James, you were bloody brilliant at it. I thought Josef was going to kidnap you for his own team or something."

James just grinned at the compliment and couldn't seem to stop even after they had reached the Great Hall and joined the rest of the Gryffindors. During dinner Lexie began to regain some of her cheerful attitude again and was currently laughing at Sirius' impression of Professor Slughorn when a large tawny owl swooped overhead and landed right in front of her. At breakfast Lexie had noticed the arrival of hundreds of owls and Remus had pointed out that they carried the post, but she was surprised to see one land directly in front of her.

"That's odd," said Remus, "I thought owl post only came at breakfast. Who wrote you Lexie?"

Lexie shrugged and cautiously reached out to the bird fearful of its sharp talons and beak. However just as her hand arrived at the letter she felt something wet hit her hand "Ugh, gross. It shit on me, this damn owl actually waited for me to untie the letter before shitting on my hand! Can you believe it?" Lexie cursed. The owl immediately took off leaving the letter on the table while Lexie began wiping her hand on every napkin and cloth surface she could find with a disgusted look on her face.

"Wow, I've been getting owl post for ages but I have to say Lexie, that is the first time I've ever seen an owl do that!" exclaimed James.

"Bloody perfect, do I have a 'shit on me' sign on my face or something? Ugh, gross."

"Who is sending you a letter at dinner anyways? Have any enemies we need to know about?" asked Sirius trying not to laugh.

Lexie took the roll of parchment and unrolled it revealing flowing script that read:

_Lexie, _

_Please drop my office this evening so we can discuss some matters about your schooling. Please ask a prefect where you can find it; I'm sure they will be happy to show you. The password is chocolate frog. _

_-Albus Dumbledore_

"Oh great, looks like he made a mistake after all" said Lexie trying to hide some of her panic, "looks like I won't be seeing much of you guys anymore, it was nice knowing you I guess."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sirius.

"It's from Dumbledore, told you he made a mistake sending me here since I clearly don't know anything about magic, I can't ride a broomstick, I've clearly flunked out in one day."

Sirius took the letter and read it carefully while James looked over his shoulder, "I'm sure that's not it Lexie, maybe he wants to talk about something else."

"Oh yeah, like what? What else would possibly fall under 'matters concerning my schooling' James? I'll see you boys later, or maybe not seeing as I'm clearly being kicked out." With that Lexie stood and walked dejectedly towards one of the prefects she recognized from earlier that day.

"Do you really think he's kicking her out?" asked Peter watching Lexie from the table.

Remus frowned, certainly Dumbledore wouldn't kick Lexie out, he knew how understanding the headmaster could be.

Sirius and James were frowning as well, "I dunno. I don't think so, I mean she's barely proved herself" replied Sirius.

"No, Dumbledore wouldn't do that. Well unless she's a squib. But she's muggle born so that doesn't make much sense, I mean she had to have shown magic somewhere for her to even get in. It doesn't make any sense for her to be kicked out for being new to magic, there are plenty of other muggle borns who adjust," reasoned James.

"I hope you're right James, I think I'd miss her even though I barely know her," said Sirius.

"Do I detect a crush?" mocked James with a smile.

Sirius scowled, "No, I don't like girls. You have to admit that she is really funny though. I mean in the time I've known her she's eaten so much she was ill, almost killed Remus by sliding down the banister, given me us all girly nicknames, intentionally spilled water on McGonagall because we dared her, insulted a broomstick and a famous seeker, and been shat on by an owl. Not to mention she swears worse than my mum."

"It's true," confirmed Remus, "I'd never admit this to Lexie, but I might miss having her call me 'Remie' since I was finally getting used to it."

"Well then if Dumbledore tries to kick her out I say we stage a protest," said James confidently.

"Hear! Hear!" said the other three boys returning to their dinner and waiting for Lexie to return so they could hear what the meeting was about.

Lexie reached two gargoyle statues with the help of a Hufflepuff prefect named Ben Abbott and he let her know all she had to do was say the password for admittance. Lexie followed his instructions and was taken slightly by surprise when the two statues jumped aside uncovering winding spiral steps. Lexie reached a large oak door at the top and tentatively took hold of the griffin knocker and rapped it against the shiny wood.

"Come in," said Dumbledore's voice and Lexie carefully pushed the heavy door open and found herself in one of the most curious rooms she had ever entered. The room was circular and the walls covered in moving paintings of older men and women. The rest of the office was crammed with tables and what could only be described as trinkets adorned the tables, some moving and others puffing smoke. Lexie was too focused on the objects she didn't notice Dumbledore sitting calmly behind a huge desk until he spoke.

"Ah Ms. Hall, I'm glad you received my owl."

Lexie jumped a little and turned towards him remembering the reason why she had been called to him and immediately her heart began to beat faster.

"Please sit so I can discuss why I called you here."

Lexie did as she was told and looked at Dumbledore with a fearful expression on her face noticing that he looked as calm and kind as when she had first met him. Before Dumbledore could say another word Lexie blurted, "I'm sorry I'm not a good witch sir, but please don't chuck me out, I'll work harder I promise."

Dumbledore smiled, "Lexie I am sure you will become a fine witch and I have no intention of making you leave Hogwarts. I'm actually here to discuss your future financial needs."

"Oh, so you're not kicking me out?"

"Certainly not. It will take time to adjust to being a witch and additionally to adjust to living outside the orphanage," he answered offering her another kind smile. "Now, about your future financial needs, your school supplies for this year were in fact purchased and are now in your dormitory and if you find yourself running out of anything or needing replacements for any of the supplies please don't hesitate to let me know. I have guaranteed that a small sum of money be allotted to you each year for new supplies, new robes, things of that nature."

"Oh sir, I can't take your money. I don't think that's right."

"Lexie your situation is not too uncommon, we have had others who have come from orphanages or poor families and I assure you we have the financial means for exactly that."

"Well thank you sir, that's very nice," Lexie answered still not used to receiving such generosity.

"Of course. Is there anything you feel you need at the moment? Or any additional matters to discuss?"

Lexie shook her head and promised herself to get started on her essay immediately to prove to Dumbledore she belonged here and would not let his money go to waste.

"Excellent. You may return to your common room and once again, don't hesitate to owl me if you need anything. Professor McGonagall is also aware of your situation and you may also go to her if you need to."

"Thank you sir," said Lexie standing up, "goodnight."

"Goodnight Ms. Hall."

Lexie made her way back to the common room only getting lost a couple times and entered finding the four boys sitting by the fireplace playing some sort of card game.

"Hey boys, what are you doing and why does it smell like burning hair?"

"We're playing exploding snap and the smell is Peter's eyebrows. Want to join in? We can teach you" offered James.

"Nah, I'm rather fond of my eyebrows, maybe another time."

"What happened with Dumbledore? You're not being kicked out are you?" asked Sirius.

"Nah, he just wanted to uh-" Lexie felt uncomfortable telling them of her situation this soon, "He wanted to check up on me as all."

"I knew he wouldn't kick you out!" exclaimed James. "So that's all he wanted then? Why did he say he wanted to talk about matters concerning your schooling? That sounds more specific than just checking up on you."

Lexie felt uncomfortable and just shrugged, "No idea. Well I think I'm going to go find the library and start that potions essay. I'll um see you later."

Lexie quickly hurried up the girls staircase before they could question her some more and made her way to her truck. Sure enough when she opened it everything she could ever need was neatly arranged. Lexie hadn't opened the trunk at the orphanage since she didn't think it would be a good idea for the other kids to see spell books or any of her magic school supplies and was amazed at just how well stocked it was. She dug through it until she covered up a used copy of the potions book, grabbed some quills, ink, and parchment and tossed it into a school bag that was also in the trunk. She made her way down the staircase waving briefly to the boys and entered the corridor.

Now all she had to do was find the library. Lexie saw a few older students up ahead and approached them, "Hey, can any of you point me to the direction of the library?"

The group turned to her and a kind-faced girl named Marlene offered to show her the way. Lexie thanked the girl when they had reached the library and she found herself a table towards the back and pulled out her supplies and began to page through the book finding the necessary pages she needed to write her essay.

However half an hour later found Lexie surrounded by broken quills and crumpled parchment and even more frustrated and discouraged than ever before.

"Stupid bloody thing!" Lexie said throwing the quill down. "What the hell is wrong with a pen? Not good enough for this stupid magic school, who gives a flying fuck what I write with?" she rambled to herself infuriated, "Oh but Slughorn does along with every other stupid teacher here. Oh Mr. Slughorn can I do mine in pen?" "Oh ho Certainly not Miss Hall" she mimicked "Well oh ho to you too, what if I take this and shove it up your-"

"Um, Lexie, what are you doing?"

Lexie stopped mid rant and spun to see Sirius looking at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh urm, hey Sirius, just uh doing my potions essay."

He grinned, "Sounds like its going well."

"Oh yeah, it's bloody fantastic," she grumbled back, "what are you doing here anyways?"

Sirius shrugged, "James won the game and I thought I should come find you. This place reeks of cheer," he said sarcastically, "Took me several wrong turns to find too."

Lexie didn't appear to be listening and was too busy crumpling up her recently botched essay.

Sirius nervously bit his lip worried that he was just annoying her. "Um, I can help if you want, I mean the use of nettles in that boil potion aren't too difficult. I can show you where to look in the book."

Irked that Sirius thought the subject matter was what she was struggling with Lexie just scowled and quipped back, "It's not the bloody topic, even an incompetent fool could find the damn section, it's this damned quill. Honestly are pens too good for witches and wizards or something? Oh but of course they must be, just like stamps are ridiculous when there are owls to shit on you and oh heaven forbid anyone play a little football around here! No they have to fucking fly because it's just so much cooler. Bloody magic."

Sirius frowned, "Um, I'm not sure what a pen is, as for everything else, well I can't say much about those either-" he paused not sure what Lexie was harping on about and trying to figure out how to pacify her, he still was confused what had her so irritated in the first place and not knowing what football or stamps were he wasn't sure what she was even talking about anymore.

Lexie groaned and placed her head on her palms, but her elbow slipped on the table in the process and her forehead ended up smacking against the edge of the table "Ow, bleeding hell" she moaned feeling tears sprout in her eyes and still overwhelmed with being a witch.

Lexie was used to physical pain, but the idea of flunking out just because she had no knowledge of the magic world was too much for her and she found herself succumbing to the tears and letting them run onto the pages of her potions book.

Seeing Lexie cry made Sirius feel worse since he had failed to comfort her and he hurried forward and took the seat next to her, "Oh Lex, come on don't cry" he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He actually had no idea how to sound calming since he had never been comforted before, but at least her tears looked like they were slowing down. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

"But I'm no good Sirius. I can't write with a quill, the owls hate me, I can't get on a broomstick without falling off and I have no idea what everyone is talking about ninety percent of the time. I don't belong here. I'm a bloody awful witch, Dumbledore made a huge mistake," she sobbed letting her head rest on her arms as more tears leaked onto the table.

Sirius never realized just how much he took for granted about growing up knowing what magic was and immediately felt guilty, horrible pureblood family or not, at least he didn't feel confused all the time.

"Hey, it will be okay Lex. I'll help and I'm sure James and Remus will too. In fact I bet Peter would help if you asked since you two seem to get along really well. Here let me help you, you'll get the hang of it, I don't think Dumbledore's the type to make such a mistake. Come on Lex, let's start with the quill, I'll show you how to write with it."

"It's no use, the tips keep breaking and my ink keeps blotting. By the time I finally got a clean first sentence my second one got all smudged. Wait, what have you been calling me?" she asked getting sidetracked from her emotional meltdown.

"Oh um, sorry. It just sort of slipped out. I can take it back" he replied sheepishly.

"Nah, I kind of like it. Reminds me of dinosaurs" she said grinning, "It's nice to have a nickname here. I mean one different from Lexie. Thanks Sirius" she replied with a bright smile on her face.

Sirius turned light pink at how genuine Lexie sounded and retuned to the issue at hand, "So about the quill, here I'll show you."

Sirius did just that and soon enough Lexie had a hang of it and decided maybe she had overreacted just a little. She reminded herself yet again that at least she had some friends. That was a step ahead of where she had been a couple months before. At least she felt safe for once, that more than made up for all the owl poop in the world.

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Hope you liked it! All 17 pages worth! Constructive criticism is always welcome and I do try to reward reviewers with a little plot insight if they ask questions since my goal is not to drive you nuts with my slow updates! So feel free to send me a personal message or write a review! I won't tell you the whole plot, but I may hint at something :) Also thanks to Knights. Rogue. Star for being my only reviewer for the last chapter and for recommending fanfics on here! I'm going to be updating my favorites on here since I've dug up some great stories that some of you might like to read. Have a Happy Halloween!


	6. Hairy Situations

I kind of promised you all a chapter and I'm so sorry this chapter took so long and is rather short. Would you believe me if I said life has been really hectic? On record, I've spent more time sitting in a lab this week trying to get chemistry not to hate me than sitting in my dorm room writing, so please forgive me for however horrible and short this is.

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Lexie slowly began to adapt to living at Hogwarts. Guaranteed there were days when she couldn't get the spell right and she still refused to sit on a broom despite Josef trying to convince her otherwise during the weekly lessons, but Lexie decided she definitely wasn't the worst first year. Frank Longbottom, the boy she had met on the first day who had been sorted into Hufflepuff was just as bad at charms and Theodore Vaisey was by far the worst potions student to walk the halls. It was small details like those that made Lexie feel much better about her own abilities.

Of course it also helped that she made a point to hunt down her professors after class when she didn't understand a spell so they could explain it again. By now all the professors pretty much expected Lexie to turn up sometime after class begging for help, even on spells she had already mastered. Lexie kept these secret tutoring sessions to herself figuring they would only lead to embarrassment should the rest of the school find out. She also made sure to do all of her work on time, she had decided that if Dumbledore was going to pay for everything she might as well show him that she was trying her hardest to do well. Lexie had never actually been a good student and when she was staying with Celine she was absent from classes too often to do well, but at Hogwarts her only distractions were four boys who had a knack for pranks.

"Lex come on, you have to admit it is a little funny," Sirius was saying as a green haired Lexie who was pointedly ignoring him and trying to finish her Transfiguration essay instead.

"Lexie, Lex, hey, hellooooo," continued Sirius now poking her arm. Lexie gritted her teeth, she wasn't normally a very short-tempered person, but Hogwarts seem to have uncovered a new side of her personality that had been suppressed for years. Sirius poked her again, this time a little harder.

"Sirius Black I swear if don't leave I'm going to stab you with my quill. You nitwits turned my hair green without bothering to look up the countercurse, is it so hard for me to get some peace now that you've had your fun?"

"Aw come on Lex, it's not too bad," said Sirius trying not to laugh, "Plus you heard Remus, he's in the library with James right now trying to find a way to fix it."

"I don't give a damn!" yelled Lexie losing her patience, "Who the fuck cares, green, orange, whatever, it's just stupid hair, next time make it rainbow colored for all I care. What's bugging me right now is you, can't you see I'm trying to finish an essay here?"

"Wait, so you're not mad that we dyed your hair green?"

"Sirius, last week you and James thought it would be funny to make my eggs explode in my face, the week before that you somehow turned my _completed_ essay into invisible ink causing me to have a momentary freak out, and the week before that you tied my shoelaces together so I tripped in front of everyone at breakfast. So no, I don't really care since you seem to find it greatly entertaining to fuck with me and green hair seems pretty mild compared to your usual. Now that you've gotten your answer would you leave? Now." Lexie answered exasperated, sometimes these boys were more immature than the kids at the orphanage who were half their age.

"Oh come on Lex, that Transfiguration essay isn't even due for another week I don't know why you're even working on it now," countered Sirius.

"SIRIUS BLACK LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE OKAY!" screeched Lexie drawing attention to her table in the common room.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving. Geez, you sound just like my dear old mum sometimes it's scary," he replied dodging the balled up piece of parchment she had thrown at his head and walking over to the couch by the fire where Peter was currently organizing his chocolate frog card collection.

"Hey Sirius, Lexie send you away again?"

"I don't know what she's so mad about, I was just asking her a question," grumbled Sirius grabbing a stack of Peter's cards and flipping through them.

"Well you did dye her hair green, that might have something to do with it," said Peter.

"You know Pete, that's the funny thing, she wasn't actually upset about her hair. She seems to care more about her essay."

Peter frowned, "Why would she care about that, it's not even due for another week."

"That's exactly what I said! Girls." scoffed Sirius as he watched the redheaded girl who he knew as Lily Evans approach Lexie.

"Hey, I um, couldn't help but overhear that you are working on the Transfiguration essay, mind if I join?" asked the red head timidly as she reached Lexie's corner.

Lexie looked up and smiled, she only knew a little bit about Lily and that was from her dorm and classes, but from what Lexie had gathered, Lily seemed nice enough and diligent with her schoolwork. Lexie shrugged and gestured to an empty chair.

After a few minutes Lily looked at Lexie, her teeth nervously chewing her lower lip, "I couldn't help but overhear, why do you hang out with those boys anyways? They don't seem very nice. I mean your hair is green because of them."

Lexie looked up and then back down at the green hair spilling over her shoulders, "It's not that bad. Who knows, maybe I'll start a trend. As for the boys, they're just that, boys."

"But they're constantly pranking you. You can't honestly call them your friends."

Lexie frowned at Lily's not-so-thrilled attitude towards the four boys who had rapidly become good friends, "No offense, but you hang out with that boy Severus Snape who isn't exactly the most joyful boy in the world, at least my friends know how to have some fun."

"But Sev never pranks me, Lexie he's really nice. I mean you could hang out with us instead, we would never turn your hair green. You shouldn't have to resort to hanging out with them just because they were the first people you met here."

Quickly growing tired of the conversation Lexie replied, her voice tinged with annoyance, "Look, I don't hang out with them because of that and it would be really great if you could stop insulting my friends. I appreciate the offer but I think I'll stick with the friends I've got."

Before Lily could reply James she was interrupted by a gleeful shout as James as he entered the common room followed by Remus.

"Lexie guess what? I found it!"

Lexie turned at her name being called, "Found what James, I'm kind of busy here with my essay."

James looked from her to Lily with a crease between his eyebrows.

"Lexie, why are you sitting with the know-it-all of Hogwarts? You do realize this is the same girl that has to answer _every single _bloody question in _every single _class? I mean weren't you saying the other day that you wish she'd shut up so someone else could get some points?"

Lily looked down with a hurt expression on her face while Lexie smacked James in the arm, despite her annoyance with Lily's pestering, she still felt like James' comment had been rude., "James stop being a prick. She's just trying to do her essay too, it's not my fault she has faster hand-raising reflexes than me. Be nice for once."

Lily still hadn't looked up and had taken to starring at the same spot on her essay while picking at her quill, "Lily I really didn't say it like that, I was just a little jealous that you get all the points is all."

Lily shrugged, "It's okay Lexie, thanks for the help. I'll uh see you later, sorry about, well, just sorry" she said grabbing up her essay and her bag and heading up to the girl's dormitory.

"James you ass! See what you did, you hurt her feelings! I didn't say it like that and you know it, sensitive much?"

"Well it's true, you've seen her in class Lexie, she's such a suck-up."

"Oh yes, because flaunting your flying abilities in front of some famous seeker isn't at all the same" snapped Lexie.

James suddenly looked a little hurt, his face turned downward and his shoulders drooped.

Lexie sighed realizing she hadn't exactly been the nicest to Lily either, "Sorry James, I'm just tired. I didn't mean to insult you and to be honest my conversation with Lily wasn't going great either. What did you find?"

James grinned forgetting Lexie's low blow, "I found the spell to make your hair normal again. Admit it Lexie, I'm bloody amazing."

Lexie growled looking annoyed, "Well if you and Sirius hadn't dyed it green in the first place I wouldn't need a bloody reversal spell would I?"

"Okay, well you have a point. Come on Lexie, it's not that bad."

Lexie smiled, "No James, it's not. I'm not mad about my hair. Although it would be nice for it not to resemble seaweed… About Lily, you should try to be a little nicer. I mean she likes to nag a little, but I don't think she means to."

James scoffed, "Well being a know-it-all teacher's pet isn't exactly going to make me like her is it? Plus, she sticks up for Snape, the greasy git" he finished with disgust.

Lexie sighed. She wasn't exactly a fan of Severus either since he seemed to think he was better than everyone else. Clearly James' perspective of Lily wasn't going to be changed anytime soon and she decided to drop the topic, "Okay, so what did you find?"

James frowned, "About what?"

"The spell James, the spell. Make my hair normal again."

"Oh right!" James took out his wand and pointed it at Lexie's head "Avehochromo"

James frowned and Lexie reached her hand up and pulled some of her hair in front of her face, "James, why is my hair still green?"

"Uh, I uh, I'm not sure" he stuttered.

Remus who had remained behind James completely silent finally spoke up, "It's because James didn't flick his wand, here," he said repeating James' words but adding a flick at the end of the spell."

Lexie grinned when her hair returned to its dark brown color. "Thanks Remie."

"Show off" muttered James with a scowl.

"Oi, why aren't you getting mad at them for interrupting your _studies_?" yelled Sirius across the common room.

Lexie grinned in Sirius' direction "Because unlike you Mr. Black they turned my hair normal again." Lexie was suddenly inspired by her previous conversation with Sirius and her mouth twitched, "Well, now that my hair is normal again, I guess I better get going to bed. You know, I'm awfully tired."

"Lex it's not even nine, how could you possibly be tired?"

Remus seemed to be the only one to catch the evil smile slowly making its way across her face and watched warily as she gathered up her things.

"Oh, just had a long, rough day you know, things just seem so much more exhausting when your hair is green" she replied making her way towards the girls staircase. As Lexie reached the stairs her maniacal grin was now on full display. Before Sirius could even contemplate the reason for the smirk plastered across her face, Lexie had drawn her wand and yelled "Chromopluribus!" and had disappeared up the stairs before Sirius even felt a slight breeze lift his hair.

James, Remus, and Peter took one look at Sirius and broke out in obnoxious laughter. "What? What did she do?" asked Sirius feeling his face for deformities.

"I'll give her one thing, she's way more creative than you two were with the color change spell" mused Remus trying to contain his amusement.

Sirius frantically reached up to his hair relieved that it was at least still there, but it was too short for him to see it, "Seriously, what did she do?" he asked panicked.

The other three broke out into more laughs and fearing the worst Sirius announced to the common room, "Who has a mirror? Give me a mirror anyone!"

The whole room turned to look at him and immediately began laughing with the three boys, mortified Sirius saw a girl across the room fixing her makeup and dashed across the room grabbing it from her hands ignoring her cry of outrage. His jaw dropped when he looked into it noticing that his previously black locks had been turned into a shimmering rainbow. Inwardly Sirius was impressed with Lexie's revenge, but he wasn't about to let everyone know a girl had impressed him and instead yelled up the girl's staircase, "LEXIE DON'T THINK I WON'T GET YOU BACK FOR THIS! YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK TOMORROW!"

All he heard in reply was Lexie's sweet laughter echoing down the stairs joining the laughter still bouncing off the walls of the common room while Sirius continued to scowl into the mirror.

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I know, I know. It's not the greatest chapter. I had to reward you guys with something though for all the nice messages I was sent and for all of you who added this to your alert list. I didn't proofread yet again and it was suggested I should look into a beta for the grammar side of this. So if anyone is interested let me know. I never post frequently, I have little free time, but I love advice so if you want the job message me. Also, I have exams coming up (the big ones!) so I have no idea when the next chapter will be up, hopefully it won't take another month to get one up!

Also if is reading this **siriuslove57**, I tried to message you but you have private messages blocked! I hope you didn't think I thought you were a 50 year old kidnapper since I wasn't able to reply! So I'll reply here… so you can stop reading now if you aren't siriuslove57. :)

My first fanfic I read on here was a Sirius/Hermione fic and it was weird at first, but I quickly discovered that there are some really good stories on here about the two. Not to mention, sometimes my life just needs some smut and they offer that, but I can definitely understand why a lot of people can't get into that pairing. For me it just took some time and a few stories to embrace the two hooking up. I do like OC stories just as much though and some of my favorites are with OCs and not Hermione. I'll look into the Snape story you mentioned since I know a few readers who really like him and maybe I can get some ideas for how to incorporate him into this one. As for the Good Morrow, I cried during pretty much the whole last several chapters, but I think that's also why that story is so great, it really makes you feel real emotion towards the characters. There's another story on here called "The Whole Truth" by angellove727 and it's still in progress I believe, but it has that bittersweet feel to it. Same with "Nobody Sees Me Wishing" (which also has a companion story in Sirius' POV). Check out my favorites for more Sirius/OC stories, I'm addicted to them! Also, what you had to share wasn't bullcrap at all, I love messages from my readers and I love hearing input or just talking, I'm definitely a conversationalist and didn't find your message creepy or Tom Riddle diary-like at all! In the future, you're welcome to email me, just send me a message with your email and I'll send an email out using my own email. This applies to anyone who doesn't want to go through FF or doesn't allow private messaging who is still reading this :)


	7. Sketches and Questions

Another short one, but hopefully more will come now that I'm on break for a couple weeks and am all alone for the holidays with lots of free time.

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Lexie was having difficulty sleeping yet again, tossing and turning she couldn't get her years spent fearing Celine out of her head. She could remember every bruise, every gash and even though she had escaped she was still haunted by the idea that Celine was still out there. Lexie knew Hogwarts was safe, if anything she could at least take comfort in the fact that Celine was a muggle and wouldn't even be able to find Hogwarts.

Lexie turned her pillow over yet again trying to find the cool side but it just felt hot and suffocating. Giving up, Lexie quietly pushed aside her curtains and stepped onto the cold dormitory floor. She shuffled over to her trunk and began sifting through its contents trying to stay quiet and not wake the other girls. Finally Lexie uncovered a battered sketchpad and a box of charcoal and she carefully bundled the two items in her arms before heading down to the common room. The previous occupants of the room had fled long before leaving only scraps of parchments and candy wrappers behind and Lexie made her way over to the fireplace and cracked open her sketchpad.

She hadn't drawn in it for a long time and she slowly flipped through its contents. Drawings of characters from her dreams, which she now realized weren't dreams when she came across one of Sirius and another of Dumbledore. What did they mean? She hadn't a clue. She stopped when she reached the time spent with Celine. Drawings she remembered doing in the dark shaking from fear and pain. As much as Lexie hated to admit it, Celine was always beautiful. She wasn't warm or kind, but her perfectly highlighted platinum hair paired with her crystal blue eyes made her look like the perfect Aryan woman. Lexie stared at her rough sketches, she had captured the beauty perfectly but she had also captured the malice and hate and the drawings were enough to make Lexie shiver with memories.

She flipped through the many drawings of Celine and reached a drawing of a young male with a wide grin and newsboy cap perched on his head. Lexie smiled, she hadn't seen that grin in months but it still brought a smile to her face. She missed him, but she knew he was probably doing fine without her. He never needed looking after anyways, it had always been the opposite as he was always looking after her. Lexie's last sketches were done when she had returned to the orphanage tired and beaten. Random kids flitting throughout the pages along with an occasional sketch of a stern Mrs. Tobias, Lexie never missed the orphanage, not exactly. She could hardly miss the hard beds and damp atmosphere, but there was something about living with a group of other unwanted kids that was to be desired.

Nobody stood out there and nobody cared, personal histories were irrelevant and questions were never asked. Hogwarts was different. James, Remus, Peter, and even Sirius mentioned their home lives or told stories of growing up. Lexie didn't have stories like they did; she never had siblings to talk about or crazy relatives to laugh about. It was times like these when she would quietly gather her things and leave the boys to reminisce, it hurt too much to stay and it was too much work to lie.

Lexie flipped to a clean page and opened her box of charcoals. There wasn't much left anymore but a few nubs, a gift she had received a long time ago from Mrs. Tobias. Gifts were rare at the orphanage, but for some reason Mrs. Tobias had blessed her one Christmas with a box of charcoals and a sketchpad. The gift was most likely an attempt to keep Lexie out of trouble and to stop pestering her every second.

Lexie was perfecting McGonagall's scowl when a voice near her ear said "You know if you had a thing for McGonagall all you had to do was say so. You wouldn't have had to make excuses for late office visits claiming you needed extra help with lessons."

Lexie couldn't help releasing a snort at the idea of her trying to woo McGonagall, the age difference alone was laughable, even if she swung that way.

Sirius had moved from behind Lexie and pounced on the cushion next to her shoving his feet onto her lap.

"Nice Sirius, do I look like a footrest?"

Sirius grinned, "Yup. You knew Lex, I'm sure if you just asked her out she'd say yes. I mean sure you're a student, but she seems to like you. In fact-"

"I'm not into McGonagall Sirius!" Lexie protested cutting him off.

"Oh come on, it's okay to admit these things. Between you and me, I've been known to write a few love letters to a certain blue-eyed long-bearded wizard every now and then, it's nothing to be ashamed of" replied Sirius trying to contain his grin.

Imagining Sirius proclaiming his love to Dumbledore caused Lexie to burst out in laughter and Sirius' laughter soon followed. When she had to gasp for air, Lexie's laughter slowly died away leaving only wide grins as she slowly shook her head at Sirius' ridiculousness.

Sirius just grinned back, he always loved having silly conversations with Lexie. "Really though, why are you drawing McGonagall. I mean there are so many other attractive art specimens here. Like moi for example" he said striking a silly pose.

Lexie couldn't help releasing a snort and found it a little ironic since she already had several drawings of Sirius pre-Hogwarts that he didn't know about. "Yes Sirius, you're so gorgeous, oh I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a capable subject to draw" she swooned, her voice tinged with amusement.

Sirius just chuckled, "So do you draw all your professors this late at night, or is tonight a special occasion?"

Lexie was momentarily brought back to her disturbing thoughts about Celine but shook them off before Sirius could notice, "Couldn't sleep is all, sometimes I draw when I can't sleep. McGonagall's scowl was just too hard to resist" she replied with a smile.

Sirius shook his head this time, "You're way too strange Lex, way too strange."

"Hey, watch it mister" she said giving his feet a shove, "be nice or the next one I'll draw will be you serenading Dumbledore."

"I'd like to see that Lex. Hey, can I see other things you've drawn? You know, just to make sure you aren't harboring an obsession for a certain Transfiguration professor."

Not expecting Sirius to ask to see her other sketches Lexie grew a little nervous, "Oh, um, I'd rather not show you them all, I mean it's just some are kind of… personal."

"Oh no, please tell me there aren't any nude ones in there!"

"Nah, nothing like that" said Lexie quietly remembering all her drawings of Celine.

Sirius seemed to pick up on her drop in enthusiasm and regretted teasing her, "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's okay, you don't have to show me anything if you don't want to."

Lexie chewed her lower lip nervously and felt the need to dispel the awkwardness that had filled the air. Without looking up, she flipped to a page of Mrs. Tobias, "Remember that woman I teased you about wooing on the train, well take a look at your future wife. I'm sure your children will be beautiful," said Lexie holding up the sketch.

Sirius took one look at the unhappy older woman Lexie had sketched out, her hair had come loose from it's bun and her lips were in a taut line and he let loose a laugh, Lexie wasn't joking whenever she talked about Mrs. Tobias being a bitter old woman.

"Oh yes, little Sirius Tobias Black will be quite the charmer I'm sure" he said still laughing causing Lexie to giggle as she closed her sketchbook.

When their laughter had died down again Lexie turned back to Sirius, "So what are you doing awake? You aren't doubting your Gryffindorness again are you?"

"Gryffindorness? Is that even a word?"

Lexie just shrugged, "so let's hear it, I shared a sketch now spill."

Sirius shrugged, "Same reason you're here I guess."

"What? To draw McGonagall?"

Sirius smiled, "Nah, couldn't sleep either."

Lexie returned the smile, "Why?"

Sirius looked up at her, his grey eyes flashed with pain briefly, "Bad thoughts mostly. Mum and dad aren't too pleased with the sorting, they've been sending me letters all term saying how much I've bollixed things up. I'm not too keen on going home for Christmas holidays."

"I'm sorry Sirius. You know whatever they say they're wrong right? Don't give them the satisfaction of doubting whether you were sorted wrong. Plus, Christmas is still a couple months off, maybe they'll get over it by then."

Sirius knew they wouldn't but didn't want to worry Lexie, "Yeah, maybe. Thanks for what you said, I guess I let them get to me sometimes."

"Sirius, you're Gryffindor through and through. You just need to believe it a little more."

Feeling slightly uncomfortable with Lexie's praise Sirius turned the conversation back to her, "So what about you? Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Oh, um, same thing I guess, the bad thoughts thing. Not so much the family disappointment thing. Just me worrying about something stupid."

Sirius frowned, "Lex if you're worrying about it and if it's enough to keep you awake I'm sure it's anything but stupid."

Lexie just shrugged.

"What were you worrying about?" Sirius asked cautiously knowing how much Lexie liked to keep to herself when it came to things outside of Hogwarts.

"Just something from the past that's been bugging me. No need to get into it really, it's over."

Sirius didn't want to push so he just turned and stared into the cracking fireplace, he was surprised when he heard Lexie's voice again.

"It's just-" Lexie paused not knowing exactly what to say without revealing too much, Sirius turned back towards her silently urging for her to continue.

"Are you afraid of anything Sirius?"

Whatever Sirius expected Lexie to say that wasn't it and he briefly ran the question over in his head, "Sure, we're all afraid of stuff Lexie. Gryffindors or not."

Lexie swallowed and turned her hazel eyes towards Sirius' liquid silver ones and whispered, "What are you afraid of Sirius?"

Sirius grimaced not really wanting to answer, but Lexie's eyes seemed to be pleading with him, "I know it sounds, well stupid, but my parents. I'm not so much afraid of them but what they'll do I guess, how they'll act when I go home. I pretty much took everything they told me to do and I've done the exact opposite. I'm afraid of how they'll react."

"That's not stupid Sirius."

He turned his eyes back towards hers, "What are you afraid of Lex?"

Lexie closed her eyes remembering Celine, how much she just wanted Celine to want her, to care for her. She opened her eyes and looked back at Sirius. Sirius saw the pain flash through her eyes, it was ten times worse than any pain he could imagine and he wondered what she had been through. Finally Lexie spoke in a whisper barely loud enough for him to hear, "I'm afraid nobody cares about me."

Sirius shook his head. He didn't know how to reply to that. Sure he could tell Lexie how much he cared about her, but he felt like they would just be empty words. Instead he removed his feet from her lap and pulled Lexie into a tight hug letting her sketchbook fall to the floor.

After a few minutes he whispered, "You should know that right now I'm risking my life by getting your girl germs all over me. Clearly I care at least a little bit about you to risk my health."

Lexie gave a soft laugh that became muffled by his chest, "Thanks Sirius, hopefully you don't catch a disease from me."

Sirius smiled, "Yeah, that's right you better be thankful." He then noticed her sketchbook on the floor had flipped open to a page of him and he couldn't help smiling, maybe another night he would question her about that, but for now he decided she didn't need any more questions to deal with and just kept her in a tight hug.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Like it? Hate it? I always tend to mix happy with sad, does it work or is it too much flip-flopping between emotions? Let me know what you think!

I could use some direction since right now I'm making things up as I go since my outline has mysteriously vanished from my hard drive. Why technology why? 


	8. The Halloween Prank

So I'm trying to get through first year kind of quickly so I've just been coming up with short little bits to pass the time until the real drama comes and wreaks havoc on everything.

Also I suck at thinking up pranks so forgive me for any lameness that may come out of this chapter. On another note, I tried to make this chapter lighter than the previous one to add a little humor and group bonding so I hope you like it!

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A week before Halloween, long after Sirius' rainbow hair, Lexie still had not seen any form of revenge from Sirius. She assumed he was busy planning a good enough prank to get her back, but in reality Sirius had no intention of inflicting any revenge on her, at least not after the night with the sketches by the fire.

Sirius still hadn't asked Lexie about the drawing of him, but he felt that pranking Lexie would be wrong after everything she told him. James was chomping at the bit with ideas to get her back, but Sirius had so far managed to shrug them off claiming he wanted to do it alone.

Remus seemed to share Sirius' attitude for once and thought pranking a nice girl like Lexie was completely unnecessary, but he certainly didn't want to bring it up. Peter forgot about the prank quickly and seemed too interested in expanding his chocolate frog collection to bother with any plotting.

It wasn't until breakfast exactly seven days before the Halloween feast when pranking was brought up again, unexpectedly by Lexie herself.

"So are you guys sick or something?" she asked James and Sirius who were sitting across from her.

They both frowned and shook their heads in unison.

"Then where are all the pranks? I mean you've gone what… three weeks without a single prank?"

James glanced at Sirius who was looking unaffected by Lexie's statement and decided to answer for his friend, "I'm sure Sirius here is just coming up with something to get you back, isn't the right Sirius?"

Sirius looked up and gave an unusual close smile, "Yeah, sure."

Lexie frowned at Sirius' unusually withdrawn behavior; she really thought the boy had long gotten over his insecurities. "Okay… well I have an idea."

"Oh Lexie, while I'm sure your idea is great, you do realize how completely stupid it would be to prank you with your own prank right?" replied James with a smirk.

Lexie rolled her eyes, "Not for me you dolt. I was thinking… instead of pranking me who, no offense, hasn't seemed to give a shit about any of your pranks, what would you say to a little mayhem on the rest of the school?"

Sirius frowned while James' gapping mouth soon turned into a mischievous grin, "Are you suggesting we prank the whole of Hogwarts? Lexie you're brilliant! Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Because clearly you aren't as brilliant as me," Lexie answered plainly as if answering a question in History of Magic. "Now I was thinking something along the lines of Halloween, you know something kind of spooky, have any ideas?"

Remus, who had been reading, looked up from his book "Are you sure that's such a good idea? Pranking everyone? You do realize you could get detention?"

"Oh Remie, live a little, it's not like they're going to hang us up by our ankles. It'll be something like lines or polishing trophies or something."

"You've had detention?" spoke up Sirius suddenly.

"Nah, not yet. I heard some fourthies moaning about it. Honestly, you'd think they've never cleaned before."

James frowned again, "I've never cleaned before, house elf work as far as I'm concerned."

Lexie rolled her eyes again, she couldn't believe that she was having to convince these boys to follow through with a prank, even at the orphanage the youngest boys were willing to help out whenever she wanted to create a little mayhem for Mrs. Tobias, so Lexie said the one thing she knew would get the ball rolling.

"Okay, putting aside the fact that I have no idea what a house elf is, are you all too chicken to pull a prank or not? Because I thought you were boys, but right now you're acting like a bunch of sissy girls."

James puffed out his nonexistent chest and beat it savagely, "I'm all man Lexie!"

Sirius looked at James with a pained expression on his face, "James, please don't ever do that again if you want me to keep hanging around you."

"Right, sorry" James said sheepishly.

"I like Lexie's idea" spoke up Peter for the first time having finished his pile of bacon, "I think it would be a lot of fun."

"Oh come on Pete, please tell me you aren't falling for this blatant rule breaking too?" sighed Remus.

"Oh come on Remie, it will be fun, please" said Lexie batting her eyelashes at him.

"Yeah come on Remie please" said James trying to bat his eyelashes as well but managed to look like someone with an incontrollable eye twitch.

"James stop with the eye spazzing you're starting to scare me" replied Remus "and only Lexie is allowed to call me Remie."

"So does that mean you're in?" questioned Sirius.

Remus let out an aggravated sigh, "Fine. If we get detention though I will not be helping. I will be sitting back and watching the rest of you clean or polish or whatver."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Remie. Now let's get to the planning! So uh, anyone got any ideas?"

"Dye everyone's hair orange?" suggested Sirius.

"Nah, I'm kind of over the whole hair thing. Plus, Lexie said she wanted spooky" said James thoughtfully.

"We could turn everyone into banshees or something, I mean that's pretty scary," suggested Peter.

"Seems really complicated, I mean we've barely even transfigured beetles into buttons, could you imagine trying to turn a person into something?" replied Remus with a frown.

"Well, let's start with what we can do then. Our best bet is probably either some sort of charm or simple transfiguration spell. Or we go old school."

"Old school?" questioned James.

"Yeah, you know something that doesn't require magic."

All four boys frowned. "I've never pulled a prank without magic in some form or another" mused James, "It just doesn't seem like it would be very entertaining."

"Or good" added Sirius.

"Oh come on boys, have some faith. There are plenty of things you can do without magic. I mean, we can still use magic, but the best pranks might be something more creative than just simple spell work."

"You do have a point," James said as his face regained its brainstorming look.

"Well, what's something everyone is afraid of then?" asked Sirius, "Maybe if we start there we can think of a prank."

"Ghosts?" asked Peter.

"Hardly" said James smiling, "considering there are ghosts wandering the halls and people aren't exactly fleeing from them kind of speaks for itself."

"What about spiders? I know loads of people who are afraid of spiders," added Remus thoughtfully.

"Spiders, really Remus, that's what you came up with? Something the size of a button?" James scoffed.

"Well I don't hear you spouting out suggestions," Remus argued.

Lexie however looked thoughtful and cut James off before he could argue back. "Except what if they weren't the size of buttons? What if they were say the size of a dog or a horse?"

James looked at Lexie and let a slow smile cross his face, "Giant spiders terrorizing the students? Now that's more like it. A simple Engorgio should do the trick don't you think?"

"I dunno, doesn't that seem a little too mean?" asked Peter who happened to be quite afraid of spiders when they were regular sized and wouldn't wish large spiders on anyone.

"Nonsense Pete, it is Halloween after all," replied Sirius grinning, "plus it's not like they're murderous spiders or anything."

"There's only one problem. Well two really. One, where are we going to find a bunch of live spiders and two, how are we going to hide, well forget hide, how about control a bunch of giant live spiders. I mean we can't just stick them in a broom closet for safe keeping until Halloween" said Remus as he thought out the plan.

"Hm, Remie has a point. What if we cast a simple body-bind curse or stupefy them or something? I mean at least then we can kind of control them."

"It could work. I still don't know where we could find them though. Or hide them" mused James.

"Well until we enlarge them we can keep them in jars. I say when Halloween comes around we divide and conquer and each take a jar to a part of the castle, freeze them, enlarge them… hey do you think body-bind curses wear off over time?" asked Sirius.

"Nah. Not likely" added Remus.

"Well let's work out that later. Now where are we going to get a couple dozen spiders?" asked Sirius.

"Forbidden forest" stated James with a shrug.

"Or maybe" trailed off Lexie not too keen on entering the forest hunting out spiders, "we could just transfigure some? I mean we've done beetles, why not spiders? They can't be too different can they?"

"I'm with Lex on this one, entering the forest would guarantee we'd get detention if caught."

"Okay, so step one: transfigure spiders. Step two: find some sort of freezing charm that isn't long lasting. Step three: utter chaos" said Sirius with a smirk.

"Hey!" exclaimed James suddenly as if a light bulb had gone off over his once thoughtful face, "My mum used to use some sort of freezing charm on me all the time when I got into trouble, she'd freeze me and leave me somewhere while she went back to her chores or cooking or whatever and it always wore off after a couple hours. I bet we could find something like that somewhere!"

"Why can't you just owl her and ask?" replied Peter.

"Well, I suppose I could but knowing her she would automatically know I was up to something. It's probably best we just try and find one."

"Okay, well we have a week so I say we start at the library and see what we can find. I would ask McGonagall about spider transfigurations since she's always keen on answering my questions but would like way too much of a coincidence" said Lexie.

"Alright, so how about James and I search for some sort of freezing spell and you three look for the a way to transfigure buttons into spiders or something" suggested Sirius.

"Deal" everyone said before breaking out into appropriate maniacal laughs resulting in strange looks being shot in their direction.

Like planned, the five spent the next couple days dodging in and out of the library trying to avoid suspicion. This wouldn't have been so hard if James, Sirius, and Peter hadn't spent the term avoiding the library since every time they seemed to enter Madam Pince, the stuffy librarian, automatically became suspicious. The boys played it off well saying they were working on a project together and some of the suspicion vanished.

The day before Halloween the five gathered to share their research. Sirius and James had uncovered the spell that Mrs. Potter had most likely used on James in a book called _How to Raise Young Wizards: Proven Spells of Discipline_ and it turned out to be an altered version of the body bind as they had originally thought of using.

Peter had surprisingly been the one to uncover a way to transfigure any small object, such as a button or pebble, into a completely harmless spider. Lexie had nicked a few jars from behind Slughorn's back during a Potions lesson a few days prior and the five were now in search of a room to put their plan in action. They ended up cramped inside the most spacious broom closet they could find, each with a jar and a handful of pebbles.

Lexie ended up being the first one to successfully transfigure her pebble into a tiny black spider and once she had immobilized it and secured it in her jar did she work on helping the boys with the spell. In no time they all had a jars with no fewer than six spiders and decided that they would sneak out before breakfast to enlarge the spiders and set them loose in various part of the castle before rejoining in the Great Hall in time for breakfast. By the time breakfast was over the spiders should be unfrozen and perfectly capable of terrorizing the students on their way to their first class. Then as Sirius had pointed out in step three, utter chaos would ensue.

Lexie met the boys in the common room the next morning and aside from the occasional yawn they all shared looks of excitement for what was to come.

"Okay so I figure we tackle the areas that will be the most populated" said James logically, "so Lexie can take the third and fourth floors near the Charms classroom and library, Pete can cover the first floor near the classrooms, but you should probably try and avoid anything too close to McGonagall's office" he added as an afterthought before continuing, "Sirius can take the dungeons near Potions, we should be able to sufficiently scare the Slytherins that way, Remus can cover this floor, and I'll bravely conquer a corridor close to the Great Hall, I'm thinking Filch's office would be the perfect place to unleash a few arachnids."

"Wow James, you really thought this one out," said Sirius impressed.

James shrugged, "Couldn't sleep last night, figured I should do a little scheming. Okay then, if everyone knows the plan let's get to it before everyone starts waking up. Just remember, try to find somewhere to hide the spiders until everyone gets to the great hall, behind tapestries, behind statues, whatever, we just need to be discrete."

"Hold on" interrupted Lexie as the boys started heading towards the portrait hole, "I say we make a pact. If one of us gets caught we stick together and all take the blame."

Remus frowned, but when he saw the determination on the other boys faces he just sighed, "Fine, one goes down we all go down."

"Hear! Hear!" said Sirius, "Let's go release some mayhem!"

The five quickly dispersed to their assigned locations. Lexie made her way towards the library and quickly scanned the corridor, not a single person was in sight. She pulled out her jar and muttered the freezing spell James had taught her before opening the lid. She shuddered as she reached in the jar to pull out a spider, she noticed a mirror and made her way over to it hoping it could temporarily hide a couple enlarged spiders. She looked behind the mirror but it appeared attached to the wall. Lexie took one last glance down the hallway before sliding her fingers along the edge of the mirror wondering if she could somehow move it forward and prop it against the wall to hide something behind it, like a dog-sized spider. She gently pulled and to her amazement the entire thing swung forward revealing a spacious passageway.

"Whoa" she breathed in surprise, "was not expecting that," she muttered. As much as Lexie wanted to explore the passageway she had a plan to execute. Deciding it wouldn't be wise to reveal the recently discovered passageway Lexie settled on a giant urn like structure a little further down the hall as a suitable hiding place. She placed a couple frozen spiders on the ground before enlarging them and scampering off towards the third floor. Once Lexie had found suitable hiding spots for all her spiders she quickly made her way towards the Great Hall.

The rest of the boys minus Sirius were anxiously waiting for her and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lexie skipping towards them.

"You guys are never going to believe this!" she shout-whispered.

"You didn't get caught or anything did you?" asked Remus looking around nervously.

"Nah, nothing like that, I found a hidden passageway!" she said excitedly.

"You what?" replied James equally excited. "Wicked" he breathed with a grin, "Where?"

"Fourth floor behind a mirror. I didn't go down it, but we need to pronto, it looks like it goes somewhere!"

The other boys grinned. It looked like they had their next adventure planned out.

"Where's Sirius?" asked Lexie noticing he wasn't there.

"Dunno" said James nervously, "hope he didn't caught or run into anyone."

They didn't have to wait long, less than five minutes later Sirius was bounding towards them with a huge grin on his face.

"You are not going to believe what I found!" he said unable to contain his excitement.

"Secret passageway?" asked Lexie with a grin just as wide.

"No, way better… wait you found a secret passageway?" he asked still grinning.

"Behind a mirror on the fourth floor, what'd you find?"

Sirius' face broke out into an even wider grin if that was even possible, "Only the best thing in the whole castle. The kitchens! They're incredible! House elves everywhere willing to get you anything you want!"

"Anything?" asked Peter awestruck.

Sirius grinned at him, "anything" he confirmed.

"Wow, that is seriously awesome!" said Lexie bouncing up and down with excitement still unsure at what a house elf was but completely willing to find out.

"What! Where is that? How come I didn't find anything," pouted James.

Lexie patted James, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find your own passageway in no time."

Sirius replied with a laugh, "Funny story actually, I was searching for a place to you know, hide them, and came across a portrait of some fruit. I thought maybe I could, I dunno, pry it away from the wall or something so I started running my hands along it trying to get a good grip. Well I must have touched the pear because all of a sudden I heard giggling. I freaked, thought someone had seen me, turns out the pear had laughed! Actually laughed can you believe it! A handle appeared, I pulled, and well ta da! There were the kitchens brimming with elves. I asked them how exactly I had managed to get inside and this is where it gets even weirder, you tickle the pear."

Lexie snorted, "You tickle the pear? Really Sirius? That's the best joke you could come up with? What happens when you massage the apple or flirt with the banana?"

The other three boys laughed and Sirius scowled, "I'm being completely serious!"

Lexie patted him sympathetically, "Well of course you are, you are Sirius Black after all. Who else would you be?"

"No, not Sirius like my name, serious like, oh never mind I'll just have to show you and then you'll just look like a fool when I'm right" he pouted.

"Mhm, whatever you say mate" replied James grinning.

Sirius opened his mouth to retort but was hushed by Remus.

"As much as I hate to break up this monumental conversation, breakfast starts soon and to avoid suspicion maybe we should go sit down and look innocent or something."

"Good idea" said James as the five made their way towards the Gryffindor table looking as angelic as possible as other students began entering the hall.

They loaded their plates like every other day but had yet to take a bite as they were excitedly waiting for any sign that their plan had worked.

It didn't happen until they had almost finished with breakfast when they heard an ear-splitting, very feminine scream reach the Great Hall and watched as a very frightened Filch burst through the doors gasping, his eyes bulging.

"Headmaster! Headmaster!" he gasped trying to make his way towards the staff table but having to stop and refill his lungs every couple of feet. At this point the entire hall was watching him with curious eyes.

"SPIDERS!" he finally managed to blurt out once he had reached the middle of the hall, "Spiders the size of dragons I tell you! Everywhere, we're doomed" he screeched before promptly fainting. (A/N Totally inspired by Quirrell here in case you didn't pick up on the similarities)

The rest of the hall had broken out in laughter at a passed out Filch on the Great Hall floor while his kitten Mrs. Norris began to lick his check as if trying to revive him.

Nobody laughed harder than the five Gryffindors who had been the root cause of Filch's damsel in distress moment, but were shocked when Hagrid the gameskeeper suddenly yelled over the noise, "I swear it wasn't me Dumbledore, I swear it on my life! Not again, not again please!"

The distress in Hagrid's voice had caused the hall to go quiet and Lexie looked towards the boys completely confused. The boys shrugged and shared her puzzlement as Hagrid began hyperventilating into his eggs.

Dumbledore seemed unperturbed by both Filch's and Hagrid's outbursts and magnified his voice over the din echoing off the walls. "Students, please allow your prefects to escort you back to your common rooms until we have the situation under control. Do not leave your common rooms until instructed to do so and stay with your house."

"Is it just me or are they all taking this thing way too seriously," muttered James.

"Definitely" said Lexie still puzzled at Hagrid's sobs now being carried through the hall, "I mean they're just spiders."

The other boys looked equally confused and were gathered by the two Gryffindor prefects and led out of the hall back towards their common room. However their puzzlement soon turned into delight as they noticed the Hufflepuffs cowering as two of their enlarged spiders began scuttling towards them. The rest of the Gryffindors were chuckling as well as they watched several Hufflepuff girls attempt to use the boys as shields before the Hufflepuff prefects managed to successfully stun the spiders.

They heard a snort of laughter as the boy Lexie recognized as Frank Longbottom pointed out to a fellow Hufflepuff, "The size of dragons eh? Isn't that what Filch said? That thing isn't even as big as a hippogriff let alone a dragon!"

Lexie found herself laughing along with many of her other classmates as the situation appeared to regain some of its previous humor.

The prefects lost some of their seriousness and instead smiled as they continued their trip towards the common room. On the way they passed a few more spiders and while many of the girls screeched at the sight causing the boys to laugh and taunt them, the prefects were able to stun the spiders before continuing. By the time they had reached the common room many students were now excitedly discussing how the spiders added some much needed Halloween décor to the castle and were now doing impressions of Filch's feminine squeals before fainting.

Entering the common room, Lexie and the boys made their way to one of the more private tables in the corner of the room with huge grins on their faces.

"You know even though the scare tactic didn't work quite as planned on everyone, I'd say it was worth it to see Filch's face. He's never going to live this down," mused James.

Sirius grinned, "Definitely worth it."

Remus secretly agreed before adding, "Not to mention, everyone actually seemed to enjoy the prank. I'd even go as far as to say they would be complimenting us if they knew we were behind it all."

The four boys grinned while sharing a laugh.

Lexie laughed with them but couldn't help asking, "Wonder what was up with Hagrid though, he seemed genuinely panicked. Didn't he say something about it not being him too? What was that about?"

Sirius frowned, "Haven't a clue. So you think classes are cancelled for the rest of the day?"

Before they could reply McGonagall had entered the room looking stern and answered Sirius' question, "Classes have currently been cancelled until the rest of the spiders are rounded up. No need to worry, they appear to be perfectly harmless and somebody's idea of a joke. If you have any information about the possible culprit please inform me or your prefects immediately." She swept her cloak behind her and began marching towards the door and the room caught her muttering something about "bloody misbehaving students and their bloody pranks" causing the pranksters themselves to share secret grins with one another.

"This was way too much fun, I believe we are going to have to do this again sometime" said James.

"Oh most definitely" replied Sirius.

"Somebody has to keep McGonagall on her toes" added Peter.

"Now that you mention it I bet Filch can scream much higher if he puts his mind into it more" grinned Lexie.

Remus just turned to the group "Oh you all are bloody impossible!" before storming up the boy's staircase muttering about needing a good book.

"Oh yeah, he's totally in for next time" said Lexie grinning.

James, Sirius, and Peter just grinned back.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

For the record, I hate spiders.


	9. Mysteries

In which I make attempts perfecting Hagrid's accent because I think it will challenge me and force me to write in an accent when I'm bloody awful at them. This chapter is kind of a filler, but given how often I'm updating hopefully you're all okay with a pointless chapter every now and then. First year isn't particularly interesting in terms of plot so bear with me.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The entire first week of November Lexie tried to uncover the secret behind Hagrid's meltdown during the spider incident. The boys didn't seem to care and had decided Hagrid was just a very sensitive half-giant.

So Lexie continued the investigation alone, which turned out to be less of an investigation and more like a whole lot of eavesdropping that got her nowhere. Deciding she had heard enough pointless conversations, Lexie decided to go visit the Gamekeeper.

During one of her free periods before dinner over two weeks after the incident, Lexie left the boys in the common room assuming their game of Exploding Snap would distract them and made her way across the frosty grounds and towards his hut.

She gently knocked on the door, which was met with several small barks. The door swung open revealing the wiry haired man who had to lower his eyes quite a bit just to see the tiny girl.

"Hi Hagrid" she said smiling, deciding it was probably best to be as friendly as possible if she planned on getting anything out of him.

"Yeh're a firs' year aren' yeh?" he asked wearing a confused expression. (A/N: Once again please forgive me for butchering Hagrid's accent, I warned you I'm awful at accents but I did try, take pity on me)

"Um, yeah. My name's Lexie, well Alexandria, but you can call me Lexie because nobody calls me Alexandria. Well except McGonagall when she forgets. I just thought I'd come say hello and all since I'm new and well, uh" Lexie fumbled trying to find a way to ask about the Halloween incident and scolded herself for being overly talkative.

Hagrid just smiled, "Come on in Lexie out o' the cold, don' mind Fang, he's jus' a puppy, he won' hurt yeh."

Lexie was immediately tackled by said "puppy" which reached he waist but she found the grey mound of fur completely adorable and was giggling as Fang tried to lick her face.

"See, he likes yeh. D'yeh want some tea or somethin' to eat?"

"Sure Hagrid, you have a nice house, it's very cozy" said Lexie completely honest with a smile. Living up in the orphanage she found everything cold and wet, but Hagrid's hut was warm with a small fireplace and a massive bed with a colorful patchwork quilt on it.

Hagrid turned pink from the compliment, "It's nothin' much, but it's home" he said bashfully.

"Nonsense Hagrid, I uh, grew up in a place that wasn't so nice and this place is incredibly warm and welcoming," she said genuinely.

Hagrid turned an even deeper pink, "Thanks Lexie, here's some tea an' have a bit o' cake" he said handing her a plate.

Lexie smiled in thanks and let the hot mug warm her fingers before reaching for one of the small cakes, a painful bite later when she felt like she may have cracked a tooth she put the cake back down on the plate and tried to keep from wincing as she chewed. Deciding she had warmed Hagrid up a little and refusing to eat more cake, Lexie looked up at him timidly, "Uh Hagrid, I hate to uh, bring this up, but I feel like we're kind of friends now and uhm, I noticed you seemed a little upset at Halloween. I thought at a friend I should ask you if you're okay."

Hagrid looked a little shocked at first but quickly overcame it and gave Lexie a kind smile, "Nah, it's nothin' to worry too much about. Jus' had a bit o' a scare is all with spiders poppin' up again. Thought I got 'em all hid away in the forest. Oh, I shouldn' have said tha'."

Lexie was too curious to ignore his slip up though and instead looked at him with her most innocent eyes that she had used on Mrs. Tobias, "What do you mean 'again' and are you saying there are giant spiders in the forest?" she asked in awe.

"Oh uh" Hagrid looked quite flustered and began to busy himself with his tea before looking back up into her imploring eyes, "Come on Hagrid, I'm just going to come back and pester you until you tell me what you meant. I'm a very curious person" she said smiling.

Hagrid sighed and chuckled to himself, "Alrigh' but what I tell yeh – I'd like it if yeh didn' tell anyone."

Lexie smiled, "I won't tell a soul."

Hagrid nodded, "Well, I suppose the story starts durin' my second year o' Hogwarts. I had acquired an Acromantula egg an' hatched it, named him Aragog. He was a beauty, I took good care o' him. Well, my third year strange things started happenin', students were bein' attacked. I don' know how anyone found out about Aragog, but a fifth year named Tom somehow knew. He told Dumbledore an' things jus' got worse from there. I couldn' let 'em kill Aragog though, I knew he wasn' the one attackin' the students, but it was Tom's word against mine an' well, Tom was always a top student so there was no reason to doubt him. I hid Aragog away in the forest, he's still there an' I can visit him when I like now. I guess Halloween jus' brought up some mad memories, McGonagall says it was probably jus' a prank. I was jus' afraid Dumbledore would've to can me since last time I ended up expelled. Snapped my wand an' everythin'."

"Dumbledore expelled you?" gasped Lexie.

"Nah, Professor Dippet was Headmaster at time time, Dumbledore didn' do a thing. It's not his fault anyway so don' hold anythin' against him. I don' think Dippet even wanted to but parents were writin' in threatenin' to pull their kids out o' the school. He had to do somethin' to appease the Ministry. I didn' have any parents anymore so he let me stay on the grounds as Gamekeeper, well assistant at the time. I don' blame anyone fer what they did, they were all jus' did what they had to an' Dumbledore convinced him to let me stay so I can' resent him fer a thin'."

"What happened to that boy you mentioned, Tom? I mean that wasn't a nice thing to do ratting you out like that without proof. I mean just because you had a giant spider doesn't prove anything."

Hagrid shrugged, "I don' know where Tom went to. Doesn' matter anyhow, he was jus' doin' what he thought was right. He was a prefect jus' tryin' to figure out what was attackin' students."

Lexie regarded Hagrid with shock but also awe. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like on Halloween for all those memories to resurface and she knew he had probably skimmed over a lot of the story.

She reached for his large hands and gave them a squeeze, although it probably didn't feel like much since hers disappeared in them, "I'm sorry you had to relive those memories on Halloween Hagrid, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Hagrid smiled at Lexie through watery eyes, "Yeh're a good person Lexie, I can tell. Yeh've got a big heart an' I know yeh'll keep my secret."

"Of course" she said offering him a radiant smile.

"Now let's get yeh back up to the castle before dinner. I'll walk yeh."

As they passed the forest Lexie couldn't help asking, "Hagrid aside from Aragog, what's in the forest?"

"Lots o' creatures, unicorns, centaurs, a lot o' magical creatures. Some dangerous, plenty are completely harmless though, jus' misunderstood. Not tha' I'm encouragin' yeh to go in there so don' even think about it."

Lexie's mouth fell open, "Unicorns? Really?"

Hagrid smiled down at her, "They're beautiful creatures they are. Very shy, but maybe sometime I'll try an' show yeh one. I've a feelin' they'll like yeh. They've got a good sense o' who's got a good heart."

"Wow" Lexie breathed "Hagrid that would be wicked."

They reached the Great Hall and Lexie waved goodbye to Hagrid as he made his way up to the staff table while she joined James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter at the Gryffindor table.

"What were you doing with Hagrid?" asked James when Lexie took a seat next to Sirius across from him.

"Solving the Hagrid mystery of course" said Lexie filling up her plate.

"Oh yeah? Was there even a mystery to begin with?" asked Sirius through a mouthful of chicken.

"Yup" said Lexie not bothering to elaborate.

"What did you find out?" asked Peter timidly.

"Ha, like I'm going to tell you all. You told me it was nothing so I don't think you deserve to know."

Remus looked up from his book frowning, "wait so you actually found out why he was so upset?"

"Yup" Lexie said again.

"And you're not going to tell us?" Sirius added.

"Nope"

"Well why the hell not?" asked James, "we were part of the prank too."

"Two reasons. One, you all made fun of me for thinking there was a mystery and for eavesdropping. Two, I promised Hagrid I wouldn't say anything and I don't plan on breaking that promise."

"Lex the only reason we made fun of you was because the lengths you went to trying to overhear conversations was getting ridiculous. I mean you actually asked James if you thought anyone would notice if you hid in a suit of armor."

"Well excuse me for being curious. Now I'm not saying anything so you might as well drop it."

"Fine" Sirius huffed "So have you started that potions essay?"

"Finished it two days ago actually" Lexie said nonchalantly.

"What?" they all said at once.

"Lexie you are by far worse than Evans," said James shaking his head in disappointment.

"How did you finish it so fast?" asked Remus, "I'm stuck on why you have to use scarb beetles instead of black beetles."

"I can help you after dinner if you want" offered Lexie.

"Oh, no I couldn't ask for your help. I'm sure I'll figure it out on my own."

"Don't be silly Remus, we're friends and friends help each other with homework. Plus, I need some help with that Blasting Curse and you seemed to pick it up right away in Defense so you can help me in return."

Remus offered her a hesitant smile in thanks before sheepishly retuning to his book. Lexie shook her head, one way or another she was determined to pry Remus out of the bookworm shell he had embedded himself in.

"So what's everyone doing for Christmas?" asked James.

Lexie looked up panicked, she had forgotten all about the holidays seeing as she rarely celebrated them and was definitely not looking forward to being kicked out of Hogwarts for them.

"Don't remind me" said Sirius sullenly.

Lexie found comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one not looking forward to the break in school.

Remus and Peter just mumbled some incoherent words.

"What is wrong with you all! Come on, it's going to be Christmas! No school, no rules, presents, come on where's your holiday cheer?" exclaimed James.

"You try spending the holidays at Grimmauld with my parents who probably can't wait to start lecturing me about how I should be upholding the traditions of the Most Noble House of Black and how disappointed they are with me. Yeah, sounds like a blast," muttered Sirius bitterly while he stabbed at his potatoes.

James didn't seem to have a reply to that and looked at Sirius as sympathy filled his eyes, "Okay, well um, what about you Remus?"

Remus shrugged, "Going home with my dad. Nothing special or anything."

"Peter?" James asked willing for him to show at least a little excitement.

Peter shifted uneasily, "Christmas with my aunt who doesn't believe in celebrating Christmas because she thinks it's just a way to get everyone to spend money on things they don't need."

"Lexie please tell me you are something full of Christmas cheer this holiday!" pleaded James trying to instill some happiness back into the group.

Lexie couldn't help but snort at the thought of the damp orphanage where the kid's that did know what Christmas was spent the day disappointed and the kid's that had never had a real Christmas spent the day bitter and depressed. "Yeah, sorry James."

"Are you even going home or are you staying here?" he asked.

"Wait, we can stay here?" she brightened immediately.

James frowned, "Well yeah, but why would you want to spend the entire break alone in a castle when you can go home?"

"Are you kidding, this is great! You mean they don't kick us out at Christmas?"

"Well no, but-" James looked at her suddenly cheerful face, "Lexie this really was not the response I was looking for."

"Mhm" she said distractedly looking up at the staff table for Dumbledore, when she didn't see him she decided to pay a visit to his office immediately to discuss her plans, "Gotta go, see you later boys" she said jumping up and skipping out of the Great Hall.

"You are the least spirited group of people I have ever met," said James in disbelief. "I can't believe she's actually happy about spending Christmas at Hogwarts. Alone!"

Sirius scoffed, "If I could stay here I would be skipping too."

"Sirius are your parents really going to be that awful?" James asked.

"Worse probably. Don't worry about them though James, just do me a favor and enjoy your Christmas to make up for our non-holidays."

"Hey, what if we all got together over the holidays for a couple days at my place!" said James thinking out loud.

"Can't mate, my parents were very clear about me going home and staying home the entire break. Apparently I need to convince my relatives I uphold their ideals or something. Don't know why they bother when I clearly don't"

"What about you Remus? Pete"

Remus looked incredibly embarrassed and avoided eye contact, "Can't I'm uh, busy with my dad since he hasn't seen me in so long."

"My aunt would never let me, she still thinks I'm six" shrugged Peter.

James sighed. He just wasn't going to win this one. "Well maybe next Christmas will be better. Maybe Sirius' parents will be less, err, strict and hey Remus, at least you can try to get over that cold you've had all term since you've been sick like every month. And well, Pete maybe your aunt will suddenly let you have some freedom or something eh?"

Remus suddenly looked incredibly uncomfortable but the other boys were too busy with their own problems to notice.

James returned to his dinner halfheartedly, he wished there was something he could do to make his friends happier around the holidays but was too afraid of upsetting them even more. He felt incredibly guilty for looking forward to a having what was sure to be a good Christmas. Suddenly he wished that he would also be having an awful Christmas just so he could sympathize with his friends more. He sighed again and looked at their troubled expressions helplessly, at least Lexie sounded like her holidays would be good now that she knew she could stay at Hogwarts.

Yet another mystery that needed solving since she never even talked about home.

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Happy Christmas readers! I should mention that I'm completely alone for the holidays and to make me feel like less of a loser you should leave me a review! Even though it is a shorter chapter. I rarely ask for reviews and I hate when authors refuse to update unless they receive them, but I really could use some love this holiday season. Cheers!


	10. Exhaustion

So my plan was to update a lot during break and get through Lexie's first year, but shit happens and the updates didn't and I'm sorry for the lack of new chapters. Trust me, if I could spend all day writing this instead of dealing with crappy life crises I would. At least we learn a little more about Lexie in this chapter, in fact that's almost all we learn. Enjoy.

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Lexie hated these dreams, almost as much as she hated her dreams of the time she had spent with Celine. At least in those dreams she was bound to wake up soon after they had begun, even if she did wake up panicked.

No the dreams that she had begun to refer to as "photo dreams" were the worst. Not because they were horrid, mostly because they were incredibly boring. Imagine looking at a photograph of a single person for several minutes without looking away or even blinking. Lexie was staring at a photo of Sirius yet again, the first "photo dream" she had since arriving at Hogwarts and it was of someone she saw every day.

The only time Lexie really found the dreams somewhat interesting was when she came across someone new, someone she hadn't seen before, but she had seen Sirius so many times in her dreams that she just couldn't pick out anything new about him. He looked exactly the same, maybe a little older, but not by much.

His hair was the same glossy black and was brushed back from his face making him looking more pampered than he was when he normally rushed to the Great Hall late for breakfast. His grey eyes were still the same liquid silver with flecks of steel blue in them. His cheekbones still high giving him a more regal look. Lexie practically sighed with boredom. The setting wasn't even interesting. He was just sitting in the common room doing nothing.

Lexie rarely had dreams where the subjects were actually doing something interesting, but on occasion when she did she would practically jump with joy. Well in her mind she would at least, not like she actually managed the task while sleeping. Finally the image of Sirius began to flicker and Lexie waited for the new photo to take its place.

Great, this one was of Remus and it was just as exciting as the last. His amber eyes, light scars across his face, and sandy hair wasn't anything new. Lexie could almost feel her eyes roll behind her lids. She hated these nights, the nights filled with these dreams. She always awoke as if she hadn't slept at all, almost as if she was awake the entire time and was sorting through the photos awake. Lexie groaned internally, yes, it was going to be a ridiculously long night.

After what felt like years of seeing photos of her classmates, her professors, and a few adults she didn't know, Lexie felt her eyelids flicker open and squinted from the pale light streaming into the dormitory. Her roommates were still sleeping and Lexie was tempted to try and sleep the remaining half an hour before everyone would begin to get ready for the day but figured it would just make her even more exhausted. Groaning she made her way to the showers where she tried to overcome the heaviness that was resting on her eyelids. The hot water only lulled her further into exhaustion.

Lexie wandered through the wall of moisture her shower had created and wiped away some of the moisture condensed on the mirror. Her face was paler than normal but had at least filled out a little from all the hearty food the Great Hall had to offer. Her hair was still the scraggly disaster it had been before Hogwarts, the castle may be full of magic but the water wasn't and it still had that unkempt look to it – no doubt a combination from Celine pulling on it, the weeks without bathing, and washing it with bar soap at the orphanage. She would never have shiny hair that flowed over her shoulders like the other girls.

Lexie still had her high cheekbones and was thankful they looked a little less sharp from all the malnourishment she had suffered from. Sadly she was still a little frail looking, although she was happy with the improvements, maybe by the time summer arrived she would look normal. Sadly she never would achieve that growth spurt and would probably remain short.

Finally Lexie stared into her own eyes, from a glance they were just plain brown, but closer up they had flecks of green and gold in them. Lexie had to laugh when she saw just how uneven her fringe was, one of the girls at the orphanage had wanted to "practice" cutting hair and Lexie just happened to be napping in the same room at the time. At least it had grown out and now reached below her eyebrows. Having seen enough Lexie left the steamy bathroom and went to get ready for what would no doubt be an exhausting day.

Lexie stumbled down to the common room deciding to wait until the boys arrived so they could head to breakfast. She sunk into one of the plush armchairs and groaned again not looking forward to a day of classes. Lexie entered an almost comatose state as she tried to keep her lids open staring at a scrunched up ball of parchment on the floor. She didn't even notice the boys thunder down the stairs and it wasn't until she felt something warm and heavy crushing her that she even looked up from the floor.

Lexie was met with the same silver eyes she had spent ages looking at in her dream, too tired to shove Sirius off her lap she simply whined "Siriussssss offfff."

The boys guaffed as Sirius ignored her plea and flung his arm around her shoulders, "But Lex, you make such a lovely chair!"

"Arrrrggghhhhh" she moaned again as she started losing all sensations in her lower limbs, "I mean it, offffff."

Lexie pushed at him weakly, he didn't budge and instead reached up and ruffled her uneven fringe "Someone's in a bad mood today" he taunted but stopped when he noticed a scar along her hairline he had never seen before that he had partially uncovered when he had mussed up her hair.

He pushed her hair aside more, "Whoa Lex, wicked cool scar! How'd you get it?"

Lexie shoved at him more as needles and pins began to buzz their way down her legs, Sirius noticed her meek attempts, "Oh right, sorry" he said finally extracting himself from her lap.

The other three boys were now staring at her forehead as well admiring the jagged scar that ran from the side of her forehead and underneath the hair by her ear across her temple. They couldn't even tell where it ended, but stared at it wide-eyed.

"Stop gaping at me you fools, you'll catch flies" she sighed too tired to snap at them. Lexie reached up and tried to straighten out her fringe, which was now sticking up thanks to Sirius.

They all closed their mouths but still stared at the spot where the scar had been exposed. Lexie sighed, talking about the past was not how she wanted to begin the day and she was determined to keep it that way.

"Just an accident when I was younger, nothing important. Are you reading for breakfast?" she asked.

Sirius frowned when he picked up her reluctance to talk about her scar but nodded and they all made their way to the Great Hall.

The boys immediately broke into joke mode and were laughing, but Lexie was too tired to even try and pay attention to their banter. After taking a bite of toast and feeling nauseous, she gave up and settled on just resting her forehead against the table's cool surface.

"Lex are you okay? You really aren't looking too good" said Sirius noticing her slumped over figure.

Lexie just groaned in response.

"Maybe we should take her to the Hospital Wing?" suggested Remus looking at her concerned. "It's not like her to pass up breakfast and she's looking really pale."

"I'm right here, no need to talk about me like I'm not," she groaned in what she hoped was a menacing tone but came out more pained.

Glancing at each other and nodding, Sirius and Remus both grabbed one of her arms and hauled her in a standing position. Not expecting the sudden change in position, Lexie felt her head spin and tried to keep the contents of her stomach inside her body, he dreams had never left her feeling this weak before.

"Come on Lex, we're bringing you to the Hospital Wing. You can at least get some rest there," said Sirius tightening his grasp around her elbow.

"Too far" Lexie muttered trying to sit back down but they wouldn't allow it.

Lexie just let them take you, you really aren't looking very well" added James from across the table.

"Here, I'll even carry you," offered Sirius, "hop on my back."

"No hopping, I don't think my stomach would appreciate it."

"Here, I'll help," said Remus as he gently picked her up bridal style while Sirius crouched over allowing Lexie to be placed on his back. She meekly wrapped her arms around his shoulders while her legs wrapped around his body.

"Wow Lex, you're light for as much as you eat."

"Shuddup" she muttered irritably.

"There's the Lex we know and love, smart ass comebacks and all," said Sirius reassured.

Sirius and Remus left the Great Hall while Lexie dosed on his back.

Remus looked at her his face laced with concern, "I'm kind of worried about her, she really doesn't look good today. I mean she's normally pale and she's always been thin, but she looks almost translucent today."

"I'm sure Pomfrey will fix her right up, maybe she's just catching something. She did look really tired in the common room."

"Yes and I'm sure you sitting on her really helped things" said Remus smiling.

Sirius suddenly stopped, "Oh Merlin, you don't think I made her ill by sitting on her do you?"

Remus snorted, "No Sirius, I don't think so."

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief and they continued their way to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was a middle-aged woman and when she saw Lexie on Sirius' back she immediately assumed the worst seeing the girl's complexion, "Oh my what in Merlin's name happened to her? Set her down here" she said gesturing to one of the empty beds with crisp sheets.

"We think she's just catching a cold, she ate hardly anything this morning and she's normally not one to turn away food" said Remus as Sirius gently laid her sleeping figure down on the bed.

Lexie stirred but didn't awaken while Pomfrey felt her forehead, "Well she is a tad warm. I'll go get some potions that should fix her right up."

"Perhaps you can let her stay and rest? I don't think she slept much last night," added Sirius.

"Of course, you're such kind boys bringing her here" she said wandering away to grab some potions.

She returned with a couple bottles, "As much as I hate to wake her, she does need to take these. One of them is Dreamless Sleep so at least she'll go right back to bed."

Sirius and Remus approached Lexie and gently shook her awake, she opened her groggy eyes and blinked up at them, "Where am I?"

"Hospital Wing" said Remus, "Here Lexie, take these and you can sleep again."

Before Lexie could even interpret his words Madam Pomfrey had already shoved both potions down her throat causing her to cough and scrunch up her face from the bitter taste, "Ugh, those are dreadful."

"Most potions are" said Pomfrey, however Lexie didn't hear her as she was already drifting off to sleep again.

"Now you two, off to class, you don't want to be late."

"Can't I stay here until she wakes up?" asked Sirius.

"Absolutely not, I don't need two nesciences running around, now out" she replied sternly herding them towards the doors.

Once they a few inches outside she shut the doors right in their faces.

"One minute we're kind boys and the next we're nesciences" muttered Sirius glaring at the doors.

"Are you saying you aren't a nescience Sirius?" said Remus grinning as he began walking to Transfiguration.

"Why of course not Remus!" said Sirius grinning back, "I'm such a kind boy!"

Remus snorted, "Yeah you're just an angel."

"I don't like your tone Mr. Lupin, no need to be sarcastic."

"Are you telling me you weren't the one who somehow filled Filch's boots with slugs?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Sirius tried to say innocently but failing to conceal a smile.

"Mhm, sure you don't. Just like you have no idea how the Slytherins ended up belching the entire school song last week at dinner."

"Okay, now that you have to admit was quite funny," said Sirius grinning.

Remus couldn't hold back his smile and just shook his head as they reached Transfiguration just as the final bell rang.

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So apparently all of you like making me feel like a loser over the holidays since I only received two reviews. Either that or my story is boring you all to death. My rather fragile ego has been wounded, I'm not sure I will recover enough to write another chapter.

No, I'm joking, the next chapter will come eventually. I'm not giving up that easily, I appreciate your patience and I'm sorry I can't be one of those writers who updates daily, or even weekly.

Reviews might help a little though, at this point I don't know what you like or dislike so I would appreciate any criticism/praise/advice/whatever.


	11. Seers and Socks

**A HUGE ****thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or added this to your alert and favorite list last chapter! I know six reviews doesn't seem like much, but that's the most I've gotten for a single chapter and even more people added this to their alert or favorites so thank you, hugs for everyone! Hopefully this chapter answers some of your questions. Enjoy.  
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Lexie woke up as the sun's final rays were filtering through the hospital windows. She still felt tired, but it wasn't the bone-deep exhaustion she had felt that morning and was more of a drowsy feeling. She briefly remembered Sirius carrying her here but didn't remember anything else. She was thankful that at least the nausea had vanished and she was actually quite hungry. She slowly sat up and turned her head towards the rest of the wing and startled when she saw Dumbledore sitting on a chair next to her bed.

"Good evening Lexie, I trust you are feeling better?" (A/N Other authors aren't lying, Dumbledore is freaking hard to write! I feel like I'm either dumbing him down or making him sound too proper.)

"Much. What are you doing here? Do you check up on every student who becomes ill?"

Dumbledore smiled, "While I wish I could say yes since that would surely show a Headmaster devoted to the care of all of his students, sadly I do not have the time to assess every cold and broken arm. However, given the fact that you don't have a legal guardian and from what Poppy has told me, I thought it might be a good idea to check in with you."

"Who's Poppy?"

Dumbledore smiled, "Madam Pomfrey."

Lexie felt nervous now, "Oh… wait why? Is there something really wrong with me? Am I dying? What did she say?"

He chuckled and gave her a kind smile, "No, you are not dying and there is nothing permanently wrong with you. However, I am curious about what happened to you. Poppy informed me that you were suffering from severe exhaustion and I wanted to make sure you were adjusting to Hogwarts. I also wanted to remind you that you are welcome to bring any concerns to me as my office is always open to you."

"I'm actually doing much better sir and like Hogwarts a lot now. I didn't sleep well last night because I was having strange dreams-" Lexie paused, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you something about my dreams?"

"Ah, well dreams are often mysterious and not well understood, but yes you may ask and I will do my best to answer."

"Right, well I guess I'll try and explain them. See I have photo dreams sir, well that's what I call them. Really they're just dreams where I see people. Except the people don't move in them or do anything, it's just a still shot of someone. Sometimes they're people I know, well I know them now that is. I had dreams at the orphanage but I never knew any of the people in them, but now I've realized a lot of the people in my dreams are actually students or professors here at Hogwarts. Sir, why do you think I'm having these dreams?"

Dumbledore looked at Lexie thoughtfully and placed his long fingers together and rested them against his chin, "I'm not entirely sure why you're having them, and you said the people don't ever move?"

Lexie shook her head, "In fact most of the time the people aren't doing anything really, just sitting or standing."

"Hm, unusual. Well I have my theories Lexie, but I believe you must possess something much like a seer."

Lexie frowned, "A what sir?"

Dumbledore smiled, "A seer is a gifted person who has the ability to see into the future, most commonly in the form of prophesies although there are a few rare seers who have experienced visions. It sounds like you are seeing bits of the future in what you refer to as photo dreams."

"The future sir? Do you really think that's what I'm seeing?"

"I can't be absolutely certain as I have never heard accounts of what you call photo dreams nor am I a seer, but you did mention that before Hogwarts you saw people who you now recognize correct?"

Lexie nodded and he continued, "I can only assume that you were seeing people who would make an appearance into your life."

Lexie thought about what he had said and while it did make sense she just couldn't wrap her head around it. Why did she have this ability and where did it come from? And why did the dreams last night drain her much more than they had ever done in the past?

"Sir, I have one last question."

"Of course, go ahead."

"Well, why do you suppose they make me so tired? Especially the ones I had most recently?"

"Ah, I was hoping to find what had drained you so thoroughly of energy. While I am not certain why you feel so tired afterward, I must ask if your dreams last night were any different than those before? Did they last longer than usual?"

"It's hard to tell sir, it's awfully boring you see to just stare at someone for what feels like hours, no offense but my photo of you wasn't even that interesting after a few minutes."

Dumbledore's eyes crinkled at the corners and allowed Lexie to continue.

"I guess I had more of them last night now that I think about it, normally I see at most three people and last night, well I lost count but there had to be at least a dozen, if not more. If I hadn't already been asleep I would have fallen asleep with boredom."

"Are you always tired after you have these dreams?"

"Normally I am, but not nearly as much as I was this morning. Do you think it's because I had so many more of them sir?"

"I think that is very possible Lexie. I also think that they aren't dreams, at least not under the typical definition of a dream. I think it's very possible that when you have these photo dreams as you've aptly named them that you aren't actually asleep, much like a seer who is having a vision. That might explain why you are so tired afterward. I would imagine that whatever is causing you to have these dreams requires energy and so you aren't actually resting, but actually becoming more exhausted despite feeling asleep."

"Is there any way to make them stop?" asked Lexie.

"Sadly I know of no cure for preventing seers from seeing the future. However, I can have Poppy give you some Rejuvenating Potion that you can keep on hand should you wake up from more visions, that should restore most of your energy and if you feel it is inadequate you are free to come here and will be excused from classes. I also think that it might be beneficial to try and remember those you see in your dreams, you never know when you could run into them in real life and perhaps a connection can be made."

"Oh, well I do draw some of them sir. I have a sketchbook that Mrs. Tobias gave me that I use occasionally."

"Excellent, keep up the sketches and perhaps overtime the dreams will make more sense. Don't forget about the potion either Lexie, I would hate for your excellent classwork to suffer from something beyond your control."

"Of course sir, I guess that's as good as I'm going to get. It's really too bad, they are incredibly boring these dreams."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Well then, I will have Poppy release you for today and prepare some potion for you. Oh and Lexie, it might be a good idea not to disclose your abilities. I find many people are quite skeptical of seers while others try to abuse their abilities."

"Yes sir."

With that Dumbledore wished Lexie a goodnight as he went to have a word with Madam Pomfrey.

"Alright Ms. Hall, you are free to leave. Here is some potion and if you ever feel like you need extra rest you may come by and rest here."

"Thanks" said Lexie grinning and taking the potion, "Oh, do you have the time by chance?"

"It is almost six, just in time for dinner."

"Thanks, see you later Poppy!" said Lexie brightly and before Madam Pomfrey could scold her for the use of her first name she skipped out the door.

Lexie felt completely rejuvenated and much less confused after her talk with Dumbledore and now the only ache she felt was that caused by her empty stomach. On her way out the door she ran right into Sirius and wobbled slightly but felt him grab her shoulders to prevent her from falling.

"Lex! You're free!"

"Of course, I wasn't terminally ill or anything! Hey guys," she said to the other three boys who were standing behind Sirius.

"Hey Lexie" they chorused.

"So are you up for dinner?" asked James.

"Definitely, I'm starved! I haven't eaten all day."

"Well then let's go!" said Sirius enthusiastically as he put his arm through hers.

"What's in the bottle Lexie?" asked Peter.

"Oh, just some potion in case I start to feel ill again. I don't want to miss any more class. Speaking of which, what did I miss today?"

"I'll lend you my notes," offered Remus and she smiled at him as a way of thanks.

"Hey Sirius?" she asked remembering the events of that morning, "can I ride on your back again?"

"What do I look like a hippogriff? I don't think so."

"Oh come on please, I've had such a hard day."

"Nice try Lex, all you did was sleep."

"James?"

The messy haired boy shrugged, "Yeah, okay."

"Really? Oh you're the best James, I don't know why Lily hates you so much," she replied sarcastically.

James scoffed as Lexie climbed onto his back, "Who cares what Evans thinks, she's just a know-it-all-suck-up anyways."

"Wow, tell us how you really feel about her James," said Sirius laughing.

"I don't think she likes you either mate," added Remus.

"Especially after today," mumbled Peter causing the other boys to laugh.

"Why, what happened today?" asked Lexie towards James' back.

"Oh err, I may have accidentally added some powdered hellebore to her potion making it utterly useless."

"What do you mean 'accidentally?' You realize she already thinks you're an arse, was it really necessary to ruin her potion?"

"Yes, it was too perfect," said James stubbornly.

Lexie sighed knowing this wasn't an argument she was going to win, "Fine James, but five years down the road don't ask me why you can't get a date with her."

"Ewwww, why would I want to date her? It would be like dating a textbook."

Lexie had no reply, she liked Lily well enough, but the two girls hadn't quite connected either. At least not nearly as much as she connected with the boys, Lily just didn't seem to have the same idea of what was fun as she did. James had a point – she was definitely a great source for facts but a little bland.

The group reached the Great Hall and Lexie slid off James' back as they entered and made their way to the Gryffindor table.

"So since you're all having awful Christmases, although I guess Lexie isn't anymore since she insists on staying here alone, I have to get you all amazing gifts to make up for your holiday of horrors. So what do you all want?" said James through a mouthful of potatoes.

Sirius just grumbled something and went back to his food, every time James brought up the holidays (which he was doing a lot lately) he just felt like melting into the floor.

"Wait a second, you're buying us gifts?" said Lexie panicked.

"Well yeah, of course. That's what friends normally do for Christmas. So I expect some in return," he said gleefully.

"Well fuck," said Lexie frowning, she now had to figure out not only what to get everyone, but where she was going to get the money for it. She remembered Dumbledore's promise at the beginning of the term and while she didn't think this was what he had in mind when he offered her money. It was worth a shot though. Lexie jumped out of her seat, "I'll see you later boys, I've got to check something" she said frantically before darting off.

"Is it just me or does she do that a lot?" asked Peter watching her skip out of the hall.

"No, it's not just you," mumbled Remus also watching her.

"Err, was it something I said?" asked James.

"I think it's always something you say mate, maybe you should stop bringing up the bloody holidays" grunted Sirius.

James sighed, with Christmas in two weeks he just wanted to try and cheer his friends up. He went back to his plum pudding in silence, he would just have to come up with gifts on his own.

Lexie darted through the hallways towards the gargoyle statues she knew guarded Dumbledore's Office, "chocolate frog" she gasped. They slid aside and allowed her to enter. Lexie knocked on his door and when she heard his kind voice she opened it finding him behind his desk.

"Ah Lexie, I was not expecting you so soon. Is this about your dreams?"

"No sir, this is uh, actually about something completely different."

"Well come have a seat and I'll see what I can do for you."

Lexie went and sat in one of the plush chairs in front of his desk and immediately began talking at rapid speed, nervous that he would dismiss her before hearing the whole story. "Sir, I know that you offered me financial help at the start of the term and while I'm not sure this counts because it's not really something I need, but the thing is, I don't know how I'm supposed to buy anyone gifts for Christmas. Normally I wouldn't bother, but James said I had to get him something and that means that I should also get Sirius, Peter, and Remus gifts because if they give me something and I don't get them something in return they'll probably disown me as a friend and I can't possibly let that happen" she said in one quick breath trying to get it all out before he had a chance to say no.

"Ah, yes, I see the dilemma."

"Sir, I wouldn't ask you if I had money I promise and I swear I won't buy them anything really expensive and I've never even bought gifts before, but I just, well I like them as friends and I don't want them to know I'm well, broke and orphaned. I feel horrible asking for even more favors since you've already done so much, but I just can't think of what else to do."

Dumbledore smiled, "Of course, it's understandable and it is customary to give friends gifts. I will be happy to give you a small allowance for gifts and for the future as well. I'm sure it should be no problem seeing as you haven't requested any money all term. I do recall your meeting with me a few weeks ago about staying at the castle, perhaps while you are here I can arrange for someone to bring you to Diagon Alley for shopping."

"Really sir? Wow that would be fantastic, thank you sir."

"Of course, I would also hate to see you lose Mr. Potter as a friend. Now is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Not at all sir, thank you," she said standing. Just before opening the door she turned around, "Sir, if you could have anything for Christmas what would it be?"

Dumbledore regarded her over his glasses, "A pair of nice woolen socks, one can never have enough socks."

Lexie grinned, "Thank you sir and have a nice evening."

"Goodnight Lexie" he said as she left.

Once the door had closed he chuckled to himself, she certainly was one of a kind, it was such a shame she had been through so much.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**So I'm about 9 pages into the next chapter (it's gonna be a long one!) but it's finally Christmas at Hogwarts so get excited! I'm trying to finish it before Tuesday to give you all something to enjoy before my life gets crazy again - I'm entering my last semester of college, yay!  
**

**As always, leave a review and let me know what you think and of course thanks for reading!**


	12. Christmas

"Are you sure you want to stay here Lexie? You're still welcome to come join me and my parents for the hols, they wouldn't mind," asked James the third time that morning with only a couple more hours left before the Hogwarts Express departed.

"James I'll be fine honest. Plus, now that the castle's deserted it's a perfect opportunity for me to find some more secret passageways, maybe even see where that one behind the mirror leads. You know we've been trying to find a time when nobody is around."

"No Lexie, please don't go down that tunnel by yourself" said James fairly seriously which was unusual compared to his normal demeanor.

Lexie smiled sweetly, "Okay, I won't, but I can still search the castle for some more can't I?"

"What and find something without us?" pouted Sirius.

Lexie laughed and nudged his shoulder, "Okay, I'll wait for your return."

"See, you have nothing to do, you can come home with me!" said James.

Lexie looked towards him, "James I appreciate the offer really and maybe next Christmas I'll take you up on it, but I've got a date tomorrow and I'm not backing out of it" she said smiling coyly.

"What? What do you mean you have a date? You're only eleven!" exclaimed Sirius.

Lexie laughed, "It's with Hagrid silly, he's just bringing me to do my Christmas shopping" she said remembering the letter Dumbledore had sent her with the small bag of strange coins telling her to meet Hagrid tomorrow at noon at the entrance of the Great Hall so he could escort her to Diagon Alley.

"Oh" said Sirius relaxing back into the couch appeased with her "date."

James was still looking at Lexie with a slight pout and to try and pacify him Lexie removed herself from the couch and went and sat on his lap giving him a hug, "Jamie I promise, I'll be fine here. Next Christmas, I promise."

"Okay I'll drop it if you drop my nickname."

"Okay deal" she said getting up, "Now who's up for some Exploding Snap before you leave?"

Lexie managed to convince Remus who was reading in the corner as well as Peter who was once again adding cards to his chocolate frog collection to play as well and they spent the last couple hours laughing and trying to avoid scorching their eyebrows. Lexie was still dreadful at games having never played them as a child, but slowly she was learning. At least she hoped she was since she was tired of losing every time.

When it came time to leave Lexie gave each boy a hug despite their protests and when she got to Sirius she whispered in his ear, "Now don't come back all brainwashed, no matter how horrid your parents are okay?"

He mumbled back with a small smile, "I won't, I promise. Have a good Christmas Lex."

"You too, that goes for all of you," she said turning to the other boys, "Have a very Happy Christmas and I will see you all in a couple weeks."

She watched them drag their trunks towards the horseless carriages that would bring them to the train and made her way back to the common room. She took one look at the empty common room and sighed, "Peace and quiet, finally" she said to herself.

Lexie made her way up to her dorm and grabbed her sketchbook intending to finish the sketches from her dream she had weeks ago. She hadn't had any more photo dreams since but decided to do as Dumbledore suggested and draw all the faces she had seen, at least the new ones.

Once she had finished a sketch of an old man with green eyes she couldn't recognize from anywhere, Lexie thought about what she could buy everyone for Christmas. She didn't know much about the wizarding world to know what to buy the boys, perhaps she could convince Hagrid to take her somewhere that was more muggle. She didn't know why she didn't think of asking Dumbledore before, it probably had something to do with how surprised she was that he was willing to give her spending money.

Her thoughts drifted to Sirius and what to get him, she was worried about him. While Lexie enjoyed the company of all the boys, she really valued the time she spent talking to Sirius late at night. He had been unusually quiet during the weeks leading up to Christmas and had been receiving letters that she was sure were from his parents since he would read them with a scowl on his face before storming out of the Great Hall. Lexie hoped he would be okay, if only there was a way to remind him of everything he had at Hogwarts.

Inspired by that thought, Lexie flipped open her sketchbook to a crisp new page and let the charcoal flow over the page with a smile on her face, maybe there was something she could give him to remind him that he was better than the Most Noble House of Black.

Lexie worked on her sketch and was surprised when she looked outside to see that the sun was now setting. Hungry she decided to head to the Great Hall. She considered trying to get into the kitchens but decided to wait until the boys were back so they could complete that adventure together.

Lexie was surprised to find that all of the house tables had been removed and only one table remained and already several students and staff members were sitting down.

"Good evening Ms. Hall, I thought we would sit together for the holidays given there are so few of us, please take a seat," said Dumbledore smiling at her from the head of the table.

Lexie sat next to the boy she knew as Frank Longbottom and helped herself to some roast beef and potatoes. Turning to Frank she smiled and asked, "So why didn't you go home for the hols? Not a fan of your family?"

Frank laughed, "Not exactly, my mum's kind of a hag. Dreadful woman with a nasty liking for a hat with a vulture on it, that thing gives me nightmares."

Lexie laughed, "You're joking!"

Frank grinned even wider, "I wish. So what about you? I'm surprised you didn't go home since I saw you waving your friends goodbye."

"Nah, I'd rather stay here, it's nice and quiet without them around and for once I can go a week without having my homework disappear or my hair change colors."

Frank laughed, "That's probably true, I don't know how you put up with them."

Lexie smiled sinisterly, "Oh it's all a matter of revenge. I have become quite skilled at color change charms and Gryffindor boys are really quite vain."

The two talked throughout dinner and Lexie learned that Frank, although still quite horrible at Potions, was very taken with Herbology much like his Head of House Professor Sprout. They both sympathized with each other when it came to Defense and Charms as neither were very good at the subjects considering they were the only first years to light their feathers on fire the first day of class. The only reason Lexie was doing well now was because she practically lived in Flitwick's Office during the evenings begging him to help her with each spell the day before it was presented in class so she could have extra practice.

Frank on the other hand pointed out that Professor Magnus was incredibly intimidating and so asking for help was not an option and Lexie had to agree, the man simply scared her. Frank also seemed to have a grudge against Slughorn saying that he was very shallow when it came to bloodlines and relations and so it was impossible to live up to any expectations Slughorn had of him. Lexie, having no relations to go off of, enjoyed Potions because it seemed to be a more straightforward subject and didn't require a lot of knowledge about theory like Charms and Transfiguration.

For that very same reason she enjoyed History of Magic much to Frank's disgust, however she was used to this attitude from her peers as she seemed to be the only one in the castle who did enjoy the subject. After discussing their classes, Frank suggested they try and teach themselves at the library pointing out that maybe two heads were better than one and Lexie decided it might be a good idea considering all the free time they would have during the break.

The next morning Lexie woke early and groggily got ready for her day with Hagrid. She was looking forward to getting to know the half-giant better assuming that anyone with a heart big enough to raise a giant spider was a good person, even if a little misguided.

She made her way to the Great Hall noticing only two other students there, a sullen Slytherin girl in her year or perhaps the year above and the boy she recognized as being Lily's friend Severus who was also Slytherin.

Neither looked incredibly cheery and so Lexie decided to sit a little further down from them. Frank she assumed was like the Gryffindor boys and wouldn't be up for at least another hour. Lexie helped herself to some toast and jam and ate quietly.

Having had enough and not liking the glares the other girl was giving her, Lexie rose and made her way back to the Gryffindor tower. She decided to get some of her homework out of the way and worked silently for a few hours in front of the fireplace. However, getting nowhere as she just couldn't wrap her head around the theory behind spells, she called it quits and decided to get ready to meet Hagrid early.

Lexie collected the winter clothes that had been provided by Dumbledore. How that man had bought clothing of the appropriate size made Lexie wonder and picturing him shopping for her made her giggle to herself. No, there's no way it was Dumbledore who picked out all her clothing, especially her undergarments, that was just too awkward. Lexie snatched the bag of weird coins she had been sent storing them in her coat pocket.

Bundled in a warm scarf and mittens she made her way back to the entrance hall and was surprised to see Hagrid already there seeing as she was at least fifteen minutes early.

"'Lo Lexie" he greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Hagrid, how are you?" she greeted cheerfully.

"Jus' fine. So yeh have everythin'?"

"Yup."

"Alrigh' then, off we go."

"Hagrid, I have kind of a big favor to ask."

"Sure Lexie, wha's tha'?"

"Well, as much as I'd love to spend the day wandering through Diagon Alley since I barely remember it when Dumbledore took me, the thing is, I have no idea what to buy the boys there since I still don't know much about things that are magic. So um, would it be too much trouble to go into London, well muggle London? I know it pretty well and I'm sure I can find some shops that have things I could buy. I know it's not what Dumbledore planned and I know it's not what he told you so you never agreed to it, but it's just last night I got to thinking about it and-"

Hagrid interrupted Lexie with a wave of his hand fearing the girl might run out of breath, "Oh tha's no problem, don' worry yeh little head about anythin'. Dumbledore arranged a portkey for us to Diagon Alley so we'll jus' go exchange some of yeh money and pass righ' on through to muggle London."

"Really? Oh thank you Hagrid!"

The two made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin where he picked up a chipped teacup that was waiting on his doorstep, "Alrigh' then, so this here should be the portkey and all yeh hav' to do is put a finger on it in abou' three minutes and it should take us righ' to the back of the Leaky Cauldron."

(A/N I imagined Hagrid trying to fit into a fireplace to floo and it seemed unrealistic although humorous, hence the portkey)

Lexie reached out and took hold of the smooth handle and said nonchalantly despite her skeptism, "You know Hagrid, everytime I think I've seen all there is to magic, someone pulls out a teacup and tells me it will get me to London."

Hagrid let loose a chuckle "Yeh, I'd imagine it is strange at times, just wait 'til you learn to apparate."

He pulled out a pocket watch from his vest pocket, "Alrigh' then, should be in a few seconds now, got a good grip? Lookin' good, and should be very soon now."

Suddenly Lexie felt a jerk right behind her navel and felt like her who body was plummeting through space. As soon as it had begun she felt her feet connect with something hard and the sudden change caused her to dizzily fall backwards onto the hard stone.

Hagrid, who seemed completely unaffected, quickly grabbed hold of Lexie's shoulders and pulled her to her feet, "Up yeh go Lexie, don' worry, tha' happens to mos' people."

Lexie brushed off the back of her coat, her tailbone in quite a bit of pain, and looked around noticing they were in a small walled courtyard with cobbled bricks and a rubbish bin perched upright. Hagrid made his way over to the brick wall and tapped it with an umbrella that Lexie hadn't noticed him carrying.

She recalled Dumbledore doing something similar when he had first taken her shopping way back in August but a stick, which she now knew to be his wand. She watched as the bricks peeled away revealing cobbled streets and shops of unfathomable purposes.

Lexie remembered being too shocked during her last visit to really look around and this time she found herself squinting into dusty windows and oogling street vendors as Hagrid led her to a large white building that towered over the neighboring shops.

Hagrid placed one of his large hands on her shoulder and pushed her through a large set of bronze doors with an inscription on them Lexie didn't have time to read. She was then led through a set of silver doors before they entered a spacious lobby with white marble counters. Lexie stared in awe at the strange creatures that looked only slightly human, Hagrid gently nudged her and muttered, "Try not to stare, goblins don' like it too much."

Feeling uncomfortable and remembering stories about the goblin rebellions in History of Magic, Lexie quickly moved her gaze to her feet. She certainly didn't want to upset the creatures, which appeared to always be scowling. Hagrid led her over to one of the counters where a particularly unhappy goblin regarded the pair, "'Lo, we're here to make a currency exchange."

"Muggle to wizard or wizard to muggle" asked the goblin in a fairly bored voice.

"Wizard to muggle, do you have the money Dumbledore gave yeh Lexie?"

Lexie fished the pouch out of her coat and handed it to Hagrid. Hagrid kindly took it from her and dumped some of the coins into his hand. Lexie was amazed at just how many coins appeared out of the bag, it seemed to hold much more than what she had first thought. He sorted out a stack of the large gold coins along with some of the silver ones and a handful of the small bronze ones and handed them over to the goblin. In return several crisp notes were passed to him.

Hagrid handed Lexie the bag again and she noticed that while it was lighter, it still contained a fair amount of coins. He also handed her the notes she recognized from the portrait of Queen Elizabeth and was shocked that she now held about eighty pounds in her hands. She had never held so much money in her life.

(A/N It is Queen Elizabeth right? Please correct me if I'm wrong seeing as I'm not British and no longer have any pounds on me to check)

Lexie stared down with her mouth slightly parted in awe as Hagrid gently led her back into the Alley as she stumbled still staring at the money. Hagrid noticed her expression and looked sheepish, "Urm, is tha' and okay amoun'? I always get a little nervous aroun' goblins and didn' think to ask yeh how much yeh wanted, we can go back in if yeh need more."

Lexie looked up with big eyes and blinked trying to come out of her daydream, "N-No this is fine Hagrid. This is plenty."

"Grea' let's get some gifts for those friends of yers" he said still pushing the stumbling girl along

Lexie pocketed the notes making sure they were secure before they both headed back into the stone courtyard and through a dingy pub.

"Hello Hagrid!" said a balding man with a toothy smile from behind the bar, "Who's your friend?"

"'Lo Tom, this here is Lexie, she's a student at Hogwarts."

"Nice to meet you Lexie and welcome to the Leaky Cauldron! You look familiar, in fact I think I've seen you before with Dumbledore."

Lexie blinked a couple times trying to overcome her sudden shyness at being recognized, "Uh yeah."

Tom grinned at the bashful girl, "Well he is a great man that Dumbledore. I'm glad to be reacquainted with you Lexie. Come again soon!"

Lexie just nodded as Hagrid wished Tom a good day and they headed out into an unusually cloudless day for the city.

"Alrigh' then, jus' lead the way and I'll follow."

Lexie looked around recognizing a few familiar roads and noticed that they weren't too far from St. James Park, an area she was familiar with as she had often wandered through the many surrounding parks when she needed to get away from the orphanage. Lexie knew London fairly well as she was often allowed to go with Mrs. Tobias during errands as well as short trips to museums with the other children. Despite living in Leeds for two years under Celine's watch and spending only a few weeks back in London before she left for Hogwarts, she still remembered London well from her childhood and was fairly certain she could navigate it without a map, for the most part at least.

Lexie decided to head towards Covent Garden knowing it would be bustling this close to Christmas time and was sure she could find something for the boys in the shops or the booths that were sure to be set up. Hagrid received many odd stares but Lexie was ignorant to them as she was excitedly pointing out the attractions and buildings that she did know to Hagrid who confessed to never having spent much time in muggle London.

Lexie noticed a small used bookstore tucked away and immediately thought of Remus who was always reading, yet she had never seen him with a muggle book and thought she might be able to find him a suitable gift there.

Hagrid noticed her eyeing the store and smiled down at her, "Yeh go ahead and have a look aroun'. I'll jus' wait out 'ere for yeh, I don' think I'd be able to fit through the door le' alone the res' of the shop if yeh know what I mean" he said chuckling.

"Thanks Hagrid" she replied trying to look up at him but finding it impossible without straining her neck understanding why he decided to wait outside. Lexie entered the dusty shop, her presence made aware by the small tinkling of bells on the door.

An old man behind the counter greeted her kindly before Lexie set off towards the dusty shelves. After several minutes of browsing the shelves, she noticed a slightly worn boxed set of J.R.R Tolkein's _Lord of the Rings _stuck between two battered Dickens books_. _She remembered battling her way through the trilogy when she was just seven and despite not understanding all of it, she had taking a liking to the series and secretly wished she lived in Middle Earth so she could have adventures like Frodo and Sam.

Lexie gently picked up the box noticing that the sides had beautiful photos encased in gold branches that matched the wording on the spines of the black books inside. Excited with her find, she considered looking for another copy to buy for Remus and keeping this one for herself.

Lexie immediately scolded herself for being so selfish since the money wasn't for her in the first place and figured Remus would lend them to her if she asked. Not to mention, Remus was certainly more deserving of such a fine set since hers would no doubt be ruined the minute she brought it back to the orphanage for the summer. She brought the books to the front of the store and placed them on the counter to be rung up.

(A/N You can find what this box set looks like online or message me and I'll send a link if you're curious)

"Ah, good choice, one of my favorites" the elderly shopkeeper said smiling, "The first deluxe edition as well, you my dear have a good eye for good books."

Lexie smiled at the old man, "They're for a friend, I don't think he's read them yet and the box art is lovely. If I wasn't so determined to buy him the perfect gift I would keep it for myself, but seeing as it's the holidays I see no reason to be selfish and deny him such an extraordinary set."

"Indeed" the man said with a twinkle in his eye that reminded her of Dumbledore, "Well given the holidays, all books are half price so your total comes to ten pounds exactly."

Slightly uncomfortable with spending more money than she ever had in the past, Lexie unfolded one of the crisp 10 pound notes and handed it over to him. The elderly man carefully wrapped up the books in brown paper and placed them in a bag, which he handed to her over the counter.

"Thank you sir and have a very Happy Christmas," she said passing an older woman and leaving the shop.

The woman turned to her husband, "George what Christmas sale are you talking about, we're not having a Christmas sale. And did I just see you pawn off an expensive boxed set of Lord of the Rings for only ten pounds?"

The elderly man smiled as he watched Lexie walk away with the very large man he had seen waiting outside the shop, "Sometimes my dear with the right customer it's the perfect time to have a sale." Ignoring his wife's incredulous look he walked towards the back of the shop whistling.

Lexie and Hagrid spent a good portion of the afternoon wandering through various shops while they treated themselves to some cart food and watched street performers, which seemed to fascinate the half-giant.

"Yeh have to give the muggles credit" he said watching a "magician" perform tricks for the crowd, "they do okay withou' magic."

After watching several impressive card tricks, Lexie purchased a trick deck of cards for James, which came a booklet explaining some of the tricks she had seen. Lexie figured James might have fun with them and figured he would have fun inventing his own tricks, he could be pretty clever when he wanted to be.

For Sirius she had already started the sketch she planned on giving him and found a beautifully handcrafted frame to put it in once she had finished.

She decided on a large bag of gummies and mixed sweets for Peter who she knew had quite the sweet tooth and thought he might enjoy a change from his usual chocolate frog.

Lexie decided to buy a pair of socks for Dumbeldore as a way of thanks and found the perfect pair of midnight blue woolen socks with yellow stars knitted into the heels.

Lexie was able to sneak away from Hagrid while he was distracted by a juggler on a unicycle and purchased handbaked dog treats for his puppy Fang and for Hagrid a large chunk of fudge. Lexie was determined to wean him off his rock cakes afraid he might break a tooth one day.

Tired from a day of walking with arms full of bags and having put a decent sized dent in her spending money, Hagrid told Lexie that they thankfully didn't need to head back to Diagon Alley as Dumbledore had also set up a portkey to bring them back to Hogwarts.

Searching his pockets for several minutes and after removing several odd items, Hagrid pulled out an old sock and told Lexie they still had about half an hour before it would be activated.

They decided to spend the time sitting and resting watching muggles walk by no doubt heading home for the day. Hagrid directed Lexie to a deserted street where she carefully arranged her bags so she could touch the sock and she experienced the same jerking sensation before she found herself sprawled on her back right in front of the large double doors of the castle. Once again Hagrid helped her to her feet and together they collected her bags.

"Thank you so much Hagrid, it means so much that you took the day off to let me do my shopping."

"Wasn' a problem Lexie" he said before giving her a crushing hug that made her feel like her whole body would cave in on itself and making his way back across the grounds towards the forest. Lexie tiredly headed up to the Gryffindor tower deciding on a short nap before heading to dinner.

Dinner that night was a happier affair than breakfast had been as Lexie seated herself next to Frank again and listened as he told her stories about growing up as a wizard while she explained muggle things like the London underground and telephones to him.

She regretted not buying him a present despite befriending him only the night before as he had been very friendly and welcoming towards her. Lexie realized no question was too ridiculous as he was kind enough to answer any of them, including one she had thought of earlier while carefully storing her purchases in her trunk.

"Frank, how do I make sure my friends get their gifts on Christmas?"

"Easy, you just owl them their presents."

"Um, what if I don't have an owl?"

"No problem, the school has loads. I can show you the Owlery whenever you want. In fact when I go to mail my presents I can take you with me. I'm sure Dumbledore won't mind you borrowing as many as you need, it's not like there's loads of students here using them."

"Thanks Frank" she said smiling, "I'd like that. My experience with owls hasn't been great so far."

The days leading to Christmas Lexie found herself getting more and more excited for her first real Christmas. She admired the Hogwarts decorations, as she had never really seen true Christmas decorations up aside from those in shop windows and was awed by the giant trees and real, hooting golden owls, and real pixies lighting up the Great Hall. She was also looking forward to exchanging gifts as she had never actually received a wrapped present before and decided giving gifts was equally as exciting.

Spending time with Frank turned out to be a nice break from the Gryffindor boys as he was more laid back and even though he wasn't a prankster like James or Sirius, he was still able to make her laugh. They often met up in the library trying to work their way through their tedious homework assignments and she discovered that despite what he said, Frank was more than decent at Defense than he let on.

Lexie was still a bit awful at it as she became easily intimidated by the curses they were learning. So while Frank helped her with Defense, she helped him with Potions while Charms remained hopeless for both of them. Frustrated with the subject they ended up just making up information while laughing about what Flitwick would say when getting their assignments.

They even showed each other their own common rooms and could be found playing Exploding Snap or trying to master Wizard's chess. However, seeing as they were both horrible at chess they always ended up quitting after a few hours.

Lexie also spent her time outside alone by the lake bundled up sketching or reading and was thoroughly enjoying being away from the orphanage. She always valued her alone time seeing as she never got enough of it at the orphanage and she forgot just how much she enjoyed silence. Occasionally she thought about the boys. She hoped that they were having fun at home, she hadn't heard from any of them and most of all hoped Sirius' parents weren't being too hard on him.

Lexie had finished her sketch for Sirius and was very proud of the final results. A grinning James had his arms around a bashful looking Remus and a smiling Lexie. The Lexie in the sketch was arm in arm with Sirius who was giving one of his crooked smiles and his other arm was casually thrown across Peter's shoulder who was also giving a small, but shy smile. It almost looked like a photo and Lexie was proud of her ability to capture her four friends in what could have easily been a scene right from the common room. She had carefully framed it and wrapped it up along with her other gifts.

Christmas Eve Frank made good on his promise and the two were headed to the Owlery loaded with carefully wrapped gifts to send out so they could arrive by Christmas morning.

"So here we are, Hogwarts' very own parliament of owls!" said Frank as they stepped onto the straw bedding.

Lexie took a step forward and felt something crunch beneath her foot, looking down she noticed she had just crushed the ribcage of some sort of rodent, "Ugh, lovely."

Frank laughed at her disgusted expression as she tried to wipe the owl droppings off her shoes only to realize that wherever she wiped them there were just more droppings or skeletons.

"This can't be sanitary," she grumbled kicking aside more rodent carcasses.

Frank had made his way over to a group of owls and was now coaxing them forward while he carefully tied his gifts to their legs.

"Okay, so that's pretty much all you have to do" he told Lexie as his group of owls took flight, "Just be gentle with them and there's nothing to it."

Lexie approached where he was standing with a look or trepidation, she had never been a fan of birds. Something about their powerful beaks and curved talons freaked her out, of course even pigeons managed to make her squirm.

"Here owl, owl," she said uncertainly trying not to let her fear show.

An owl hoped forward and stuck its leg out waiting patiently. Lexie tried to hide her nervous hands and loosely tied the parcel to its leg.

"You're going to need to tie it better than that, it does need to make its way all the way across the country" corrected Frank watching her with a kind smile and trying not to laugh at how scared she looked.

Lexie grumbled and in her haste to retie the package she managed to tie the birds legs together. Her mistake caused the bird to flap its wings in irritation and Lexie found herself being smacked in the head as it flailed about trying to free itself. The owl's panic seemed to spur panic in the other owls around it and soon several owls were also stretching out their wings and hooting angrily.

Lexie immediately panicked and went into survival mode as she dropped her gifts and huddled in a small ball whimpering "Fuck, fuck, fuck, please don't kill me, shit I hate fucking owls!"

Frank was now in the corner trying to contain his laughter, however, noticing Lexie shaking in fear on the dropping covered floor seemed to bring him back to reality and he set about trying to calm the owls down. Frank bravely grabbed the owl that had caused the ruckus and untied its legs, retying the package correctly and letting it swoop out the window.

He then approached the petrified girl on the floor, "Lexie, are you okay?" he asked her gently shaking her.

Lexie whimpered some more before saying in a small voice, "I really don't like birds Frank."

Frank couldn't help it and laughed at her huddled figure, her robes covered in droppings with straw hanging from her dark hair, "That's a bit of an understatement Lexie. Here, I'll tie the rest of your gifts and you just work on mopping up your Gryffindor courage from the floor and we can get out of here."

Lexie just pouted and for the first time since the "incident" when she noticed the state of her clothes. "Ugh, gross. Owl shit."

Once Frank had finished with Lexie's gifts he gently led her outside of the Owlery, "Here, let me just clean you up a bit. You kind of smell."

Frank pointed his wand at her muttering _Scourgify_ spells and allowing pink bubbles to scrub away any remnants from the Owlery. He also siphoned off the hay from her hair and by the time he was done Lexie's clothing was as good as new. For once he was thankful for all the times he had spent watching his mother clean the house.

He noticed that the girl was still a bit shaky though from her owl encounter, "Here, let's stop by the Hospital Wing so Madam Pomfrey can give you a Calming Drought, you still look a bit hysterical."

"No way! I can't go there! This is humiliating, what kind of Gryffindor is afraid of owls? I'd never hear the end of it!"

"I'm sure she won't judge you Lexie," he said but when she adamantly shook her head no he decided to just bring her back to his common room where he taught her how to play Gobstones, a game in which marbles that spit green-yellow liquid at the two and ended up requiring the use of more cleaning spells after Lexie lost miserably. However, when she left the Hufflepuff common room she was at least in better spirits than she had been a few hours prior and Frank was glad the distraction had worked. After promising to not tell anyone about her owl catastrophe they wished each other a Happy Christmas and Lexie went back to her own dorm falling asleep almost immediately.

Lexie woke the next morning a bit later than usual as the sun was already streaming through the dormitory windows. She unfurled her limbs and stretched still lying down but jumped slightly when she felt something fall off her bed with a thump. She sat up and looked towards the noise only to discover a small pile of presents at the foot of her bed.

Any remaining drowsiness was swept away as Lexie reached for the pile and leaned over to grab the fallen package from the floor. She had actually received presents for Christmas! Part of her had expected James to be joking, but the parcels she had in her hands proved he had been completely serious. She recognized his untidy scrawl, Remus' carefully printed words, Sirius' elegant penmenship, and Peter's scratchy writing and decided since James had initiated the whole gift exchange, she would open his first. She was surprised to see his note attached to the smallest box out of the four, especially since he had boasted about getting such a fantastic gift. The note attached to the package read:

_Hey Lexie!_

_Having fun at Hogwarts? Or are you regretting staying behind? You can still come to my house for the rest of the holiday if you're bored yet, which I'm sure you are without my brilliance! _At this Lexie scoffed, James could be so pompous at times.

_I wasn't sure what to get you so my mum helped me pick this out saying any girl would like it. I didn't want to tell her that you aren't the typical girl, although given who your friends are I think that fact is pretty obvious since all the other Gryffindor girls hate us, particularly Evans. I don't know who shoved a broom up her arse, but I wish she'd get Pomfrey to remove it. Anyways, I hope you like your gift._

_Happy Christmas, come spend the rest with me!_

_James_

Lexie curiously tore at the package and opened the box to reveal a beautiful, round locket with carefully engraved flowers in the metal. Lexie didn't own any sort of jewelry, or anything fancy, and this was now the most beautiful thing she owned. Lexie plucked another note from the box.

_I know it's kind of girly, but hopefully you like it. I also know how much you like magical things so its been enchanted to sing an old wizard lullaby since you've mentioned having problems getting to sleep some nights. Mum casted the charm for me._

Lexie was surprised at how thoughtful James gift had been, he didn't seem like the type to put a lot of thought into things and clearly he had struggled with picking out her gift. Lexie carefully opened the locket and was met with such a beautiful melody she couldn't figure out what instruments made the kind of sound being emitted. Lexie listened to the lullaby four times before carefully closing the locket and slipping it around her neck. She would have to thank James, but first she would have to mock him for being such a softy.

Pushing aside the empty box, she reached for Remus' gift that was very carefully wrapped in plain brown paper and without even opening it knew it was a book. She carefully unfurled his note.

_Lexie, _

_I've noticed you've recently gained an interest in this topic and so instead of sneaking books out of the library and risking Madam Pince's wrath, I thought I would help you out._

_Hope you're having a nice Christmas._

_Best,_

_Remus_

Lexie bit her lip, had Remus really noticed her recent infatuation with Divination and her dreams? She carefully ripped the paper and her concern was confirmed as she held a copy of _A Seer's Guide to Your Dreams, Thoughts, and Subconscious. _She had never heard of the book as it wasn't one of the ones she had managed to find in the Hogwarts Library, but she was excited to start reading it since it might be able to uncover the reason behind her dreams.

Lexie reached for Peter's gift, which she noticed was the worst wrapped out of the bunch. She tore it open and laughed out loud knowing she should have expected for him to get her a large box of chocolate frogs. Still laughing she reached for his card and had to squint to decipher his almost illegible handwriting.

_Hi Lexie, _

_Since my aunt doesn't believe in spending money on Christmas I had to find gifts around the house and this is all I could come up with. Maybe next year I can get better gifts._

_Happy Christmas, _

_Peter_

_P.S. If you get __Hengist of Woodcroft__ can I switch you for it since I'm missing that one?_

Lexie laughed again, however given Peter's situation with his aunt, she appreciated his gift just as much as the others.

Finally she reached for Sirius' gift, which was wrapped in silver paper and tied with a satin green ribbon. The gift exuded elegance and she wondered briefly if he had wrapped it himself or if he had his house elf do it. She unrolled his letter noticing it was much longer than the others.

_Lex, _

_Sorry I haven't written all break, my parents have forbidden me from using their owl and seeing as I don't have one of my own, I've had to get a little creative. To even convince them let me go Christmas shopping I had to persuade them all my friends were in Slytherin, hence the awful green and silver wrapping (sorry about that, I prefer red and gold myself). Then I had to wait up all night for the owls from everyone else to arrive just so I could use them to send my own gifts off, talk about a hassle. _

_Speaking of owls, what in Merlin's name did you do to the one that delivered my gift? Not only did he wake me up in the middle of the night, but when I tried to remove the gift from his leg he went completely nuts, I thought he was going to take my head off. Did you try to find the most spastic school owl as a joke? Because I risked life and limb just to retrieve my gift. When I finally did manage to untie it, he flew straight out the window faster than you can say 'Quidditch.' So much for using your owl to deliver your gift right? I had to use James' owl for both your gift and his gift so hopefully yours arrived in time. _

_About my gift (so I opened it a little early, hex me). I love it. I can't believe you drew this, if I hadn't seen your sketches that night in the common room I would swear you hired someone to do it. I've hidden it in my underwear drawer so my mum doesn't see it since she would toss it out, but it means a lot that you would go through the trouble of making something for me. You must be really bored at Hogwarts if you're spending what looks like hours sketching. How is staying at Hogwarts by the way?_

_I'm not sure the reason why you wanted to stay behind instead of going home, but if your home is anything at all like mine I don't fault you for that decision. James is fortunate to have two very understanding parents from what it sounds like and so it's hard for him to understand anything but that, not that I blame him for that. You can always talk to me Lex though, if you ever want to at least. I'm willing to listen to any gripes you may have about your own home and I can exchange some of mine. _

_You never seem to talk about home and I wish you would, I'm willing to listen since I am your friend Lex (well James, Remus and Peter are too but I'm cooler than they are). Hey, at least your family can't be any worse than being uptight Slytherin purebloods who believe Muggle borns should be locked away! Now I know why I'm in Gryffindor, you wouldn't believe the hogwash my mum spews out, I'm pretty close to ripping my ears off just so I don't have to listen to it anymore._

_Well, I don't want to spoil your Christmas with rotten tales about my home life, but I hope you're having fun at the castle. Remember, no exploring without me! I hope you like your gift as well, I'm sure you will, I unlike James (who gives someone a dark detector when his very own parents are dark wizards, seriously!) am and excellent gift-giver. _

_I wish I were there and Happy Christmas,_

_Sirius_

At that moment Lexie wished Sirius were at Hogwarts as well, he didn't seem to be having a very good holiday at all. She took hold of the green ribbon and untied it and carefully slid the wrappings aside, Lexie gasped.

Sirius had given her not only a brand new set of charcoals (very expensive ones too), but also a lovely set of pencils and a thick sketchbook. She picked up the sketchbook and breathed in the smell of new paper. Lexie gently fingered the pencils and the charcoals, they seemed too nice to open let alone use for actually drawing.

Once Lexie was done admiring them with her eyes, she gently cracked open the charcoals and ran her fingers over them, they felt silky underneath her fingertips and when she removed her hands she could see the dark black powder on them.

Sirius must have purchased her gift at a Muggle shop somewhere since by now she was pretty certain wizards don't use pencils since they still write with quills. That meant he must have escaped his parents somehow since she doubted they would let him even step foot in a Muggle shop, let alone purchase anything from one.

Lexie placed Sirius' gift next to the other two and fingered the locket around her neck, this had without a doubt been the best Christmas of her life.

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**IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE:**

**If you didn't notice, I lost my muse about halfway through this. However, I keep getting brilliant ideas for future chapters so the muse is not dead yet, it's just being directed towards the wrong part of this story. On that note, this may be the last update for a while. Please don't hate me, I am going to try to get some chapters up in the next couple weeks, but I can't guarantee anything. Just remember I love you all and I won't abandon this.  
**

**Also, to all you 50+ lurkers, see that blue text down below? Click it and tell me something about yourself. For example: Hi I'm the author of this story and my Amorentia would probably smell like rain, simple green, and banana bread.**

**Yes, that's my way of asking for you to leave a review, too obvious?  
**


	13. Fort of Security

**I know it's been months and I'm a horrible person for keeping you all waiting, but in my defense I did warn you of a long wait. Not to mention the site is seriously malfunctioning right now and updating has been on hold so for those wondering what is going on with a lack of updates, that's why. This must be some sort of punishment for me waiting so long to update and I only found out a way to bypass the errors in order to update a few minutes ago so bear with everyone on this. If you are also an author wanting to update I suggest you check the forum topic called "Error 2 bypass". ****On that note, fingers crossed that this works and enjoy.  
**

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Lexie was eating dinner in the Great Hall waiting for the return of her classmates. The house tables had been put back into place and aside from two seventh year Gryffindors sitting at the other end of the table, she was completely alone. Lexie didn't even know there were other Gryffindors who stayed at Hogwarts since she hadn't seen the two red-headed boys all break.

While Lexie had enjoyed the stillness of the empty castle, she was looking forward to the return of her friends. She missed having company and being alone for long periods of time was starting to get to her. Lexie looked up when she heard excited chatter enter the hall as students swarmed through the doors and made their way to their house tables. Lexie watched the crowd looking for the boys, but couldn't find them anywhere.

When the last student filtered through the hall, she frowned, where were they? The chance of all of four boys missing the train was unlikely. She looked down the Gryffindor table thinking maybe she had just missed them coming in, but after carefully looking at each face of her housemate, she didn't see them. Deciding that perhaps they had too many sweets on the train and weren't hungry, Lexie decided to try the common room. She quickly stood before the tables could fill with food and made her way towards the Gryffindor tower.

Halfway up one of the staircases Lexie heard whispering and turned around expecting to see a group of friends behind her, however when she turned all she saw was air. Maybe some people had just turned a corner she decided and continued up the staircase. Less than a minute later she heard the sound of shuffling feet, again she turned around to an empty staircase.

"I'm losing my fucking mind," she muttered reaching the top of the stairs to the fifth corridor. Lexie's declaration was followed by a snort and then someone very familiar sounding muttered "Ow, what the hell James."

Lexie knew that voice, after all the late nights they spent talking how could she not? Lexie rolled her eyes before whipping around, "Alrigh-" her words died in her throat when all she saw was an empty corridor. Lexie frowned, she was not imagining things, she was sure of it.

"Okay boys, you've had your fun now come out from whatever statue you're hiding behind."

Still nothing. Fine, if they wouldn't come to her, she would find them Lexie decided. She took two rapid steps in the direction she had heard Sirius' voice, what she was not expecting was to run into something very solid but still very invisible. As she felt her body start to fall backwards she desperately tried waving her arms to stop the backwards motion and was amazed when two arms appeared out of thin air and grabbed her wrists.

Lexie stared at the arms with her mouth noiselessly opening and closing before she heard four distinct laughs and was suddenly staring at her four friends who just like the two arms, appeared out of thin air.

"You should see your face Lexie," said James gasping as he tried to control his laughter.

Lexie followed the arms that were still holding and saw they were attached to a grinning Sirius, "What the bloody hell guys? One, where the fuck have you been and two, how the hell did you do that? You better start talking!" she scolded.

James just held up something shiny that looked like liquid silver, Lexie stared at it frowning, "Yeah nice dress James, but right now I really don't give a crap about your new clothing style."

The four boys just smirked, "What? What the fuck are you all smirking at?"

"It's an invisibility cloak Lexie," said Remus.

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"No, the joke was following you and freaking you out, which I'd say we definitely accomplished, wouldn't you agree mates?"

"Definitely" said Peter nodding.

"Allow me to demonstrate," said James in a smug voice as he wrapped the cloak around his body leaving only a floating head.

"Bloody hell James, where'd your body go?" gasped Lexie.

"What part of 'invisibility cloak' did you not understand?" asked Sirius laughing.

Lexie just gaped at James' smirking head, when she finally managed to find her voice again she asked, "Where did you get it? Can I try it?"

"Sure" he said handing it over, Lexie rand her fingers across it and thought it feel like almost like a liquid gliding across her hand. "I got it from my dad for Christmas, he thought I could use it now that I'm at Hogwarts. Apparently my mum didn't agree so he had to wait to give it to me when she wasn't in the room. Pretty cool huh?"

Lexie swept the cloak over her body like James had and looked down at where her body used to be, "Wicked" she said before taking it off and handing it back to James.

James scrunched up the cloak and stuffed it inside his robes, "Yeah, just don't tell anyone about it, I don't really want all of Hogwarts knowing."

"Sure," said Lexie as the five continued on their way towards the common room, "So did you all have good Christmases? Thanks for all the gifts by the way, they were all really great," she said smiling.

"Mine was okay, it was just my dad and I but it was nice. Thanks for the books Lexie, I've already started them and they're really interesting despite being muggle books."

"Sure Remus, hey when you're done with them do you mind if I borrow them?"

"You gave Remus muggle books you've never read?" interrupted James.

"No, I read them it was just a long time ago and I was too young to understand everything. I'd like to read them again if that's okay."

"Sure Lexie," said Remus smiling.

"How about you Peter? How was your Christmas?"

Peter looked up, he was still pretty shy around the group, but was slowly opening up, "It was okay I guess. My aunt's a real loon but luckily she didn't bother me much, I just sort of hung around her old house though since she wouldn't let me go anywhere. Thanks for the sweets, they were a lifesaver since she only knows how to cook creamed corn and toast."

They all scrunched up their faces in disgust.

"Oh, that's kind of a bummer, well at least you're back here at Hogwarts right?"

Peter just gave an eager nod. After a few minutes James blurted out, "What so you aren't going to ask me about my holiday?"

Lexie laughed before looking at James, "Oh yes, so the most important and brilliant James Potter, how was your holiday?"

"Excellent, mum cooked enough for an army as usual and dad and I played around on brooms, you know you all should have come it would have been even better."

The four just shrugged, the topic was a bit worn down for them to say anything back.

Lexie noticed Sirius looking more sullen than usual but decided to wait until later before talking to him, she knew he would probably stay up late in the common room that night, he tended to do that on nights when he was troubled.

"Domi adsum" Lexie said when they reached the Fat Lady who welcomed them back before swinging aside so they could climb through.

The five made their way over to the vacant couches by the fireplace, Lexie sunk into the couch next to Sirius while Peter and Remus took another and James chose to sprawl out across one of the armchairs.

"So Lexie, how was Christmas at good old Hoggy Warty Hogwarts?" asked James.

Lexie smiled, "It was good, I spent a lot of time with Frank in the library or playing games."

"Who's Frank? Your invisible friend?"

"No James that would be you. He's in Hufflepuff; we actually have Herbology with him. He's the one Professor Sprout is always doting on, he's really nice though even though he is a little obsessed with plants."

"So are you two dating or something?"

Lexie regarded James with an amused expression, "Why? Would that bother you?"

However this time Sirius squealed sounding a little on the feminine side, "Is that a yes?"

She laughed at their expressions, "No we're not dating, I'm only eleven remember? He's just fun to hang out with, like you guys!"

"You're seriously comparing us to a Puff?" said James incredulously.

Lexie scoffed, "What may I ask is wrong with the Hufflepuffs?"

"Nothing," muttered James, "Most of them are just ponces is all."

"Well I think that's being very judgmental James, you know the same could be said for Gryffindors being too rash."

"Nothing wrong with that," James retaliated, "Just like the Slytherins are a bunch of pureblooded wackos with too much inbreeding, no offense Sirius"

Sirius just shrugged, "None taken, don't forget slimy and selfish though."

Lexie sighed, "I don't get why everyone can't just get along. Disliking someone for their House is really immature."

"Lex trust me on this, there's a reason everyone hates Slytherin, they're all the same."

"Well I happen to disagree and I'm also tired of this conversation. Anyone want to play Wizard's Chess? I've been practicing over break with Frank. Well, I guess you wouldn't call it practicing since that would imply I actually improved, but still" she said trailing off.

"I'll play with you," said Remus who had been completely silent until that moment "Let me go grab my set upstairs."

When Remus returned everyone else had returned from dinner but the group of friends paid no attention to the chaos of the common room, as they were content catching up with each other. Remus once again mercilessly slaughtered Lexie at Chess while the three other boys watched and James laughed at her lack of tactics during the game. This led to Lexie challenging James to do better and while he managed to do much better than Lexie, he still lost to Remus.

After a few hours they decided to head off to bed and Lexie waved the boys goodnight as she headed up to her own dormitory. After changing into her pajamas Lexie remembered how quiet Sirius had been during the first couple hours and remembered her decision to see if he would be in the common room after everyone else had gone to bed.

Lexie held off sleeping for a couple hours waiting until her dorm mates were asleep and was certain everyone would have deserted the common room before carefully crawling out of bed and down the stairs. Sure enough, as predicted, Sirius was sitting on the couch also in his pajamas staring into the fire. She wondered how often he did this, as it seemed like every time she came down late he was always in the exact same position.

Lexie crept up behind him as quietly as her feet permitted and when she was right behind him she grabbed his shoulder and yelled, "Boo."

Sirius jumped at least a foot off the couch, but when he saw it was just Lexie his shoulders relaxed and his surprised face scowled at her, "I was about to hex you Lex, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

Lexie grinned, "Yeah right, as if you even have your wand with you."

Sirius opened his mouth to reply but closed it when he realized that she had a point. After she had situated herself back on the couch next to him he turned towards her, "So what are you doing up? You only come down here on occasion and it's always because something's bothering you, what was it this time?"

Lexie shrugged, "You mostly, I wanted to make sure you were okay after spending Christmas at your home. From your letter you sounded a little… unhappy" she finished with a frown.

Sirius stared back into the fire and gave a muted shrug but not before Lexie caught the sad look in his eyes, she recognized that look since it was the same look she had seen in her eyes when she lived with Celine. It was the look of realization she had gotten when she had realized that nobody loved her or wanted her around.

Lexie reached out and squeezed Sirius' shoulder, "Sirius, please talk to me."

"There's not much to say really," he said in a thick voice, a result of him trying to swallow his emotion, a trick he had unfortunately learned from his upbringing, "They were mad, they yelled, nothing I hadn't heard before. Mostly how much of a disappointment I was and how I was such an awful role model for not just my little brother but for the whole bloody family and how I should start acting more like them. I stayed in my room most the holiday after the first night."

Sirius' shoulders dropped and Lexie could practically feel the despair wafting off him and extracting the warmth from the fire.

Lexie bit her lip, she had no idea what to say to him, sure she had her fair share of problems and disappointments, but not once had she ever been truly comforted and wasn't sure what would make him feel better.

Lexie thought back to the cold days in the orphanage, the days when the despair seemed too much to bear and tried to remember how she overcame it. Recalling a cold, wet day several months after first arriving at the orphanage Lexie remembered how the other kids dealt with feeling unwanted and forgotten. With that idea in her head, the only idea she had as a way to make Sirius feel better, Lexie jumped up from the couch, which caused Sirius to jerk his head towards her sudden movement.

Lexie spun herself around searching the common room for what she needed, however her search proved that the items she was looking for were not there. Sirius was still looking at her with a hesitant expression; almost as if she were a scared animal, he was too afraid that he had driven her away with his depression.

Before he could open his mouth, Lexie blurted out, "I'll be right back, stay there and don't even think about moving, I know something that will make this better" before she darted back up to the girl's dormitories.

Sirius watched her sprint out of the room and frowned, he knew Lexie to be quite odd at times, but she had never just run away from him, or anyone for that matter. In less than five minutes he could hear her shuffling back down the steps. Sirius watched, his expression becoming more curious, as he watched her reappear. At least he assumed it was her, for her arms were loaded with blankets and pillows which were piled too high to see her face, she looked as if she had taken her entire bed in her arms.

"Uh, Lex, what in Merlin's name are you doing? Has someone _Imperiused _you?"

"Has someone what?" she questioned, her voiced muffled from all the blankets.

"It's a spell that makes you do whatever someone wants" he said trying to get a look at her face, if he could see her eyes maybe something in them would give it away if she had been cursed or not.

Lexie dropped the pile of bedding on the floor next to the couch, "Now why would you think someone did that?"

Sirius looked at her critically, "Because you're acting really weird. Should I start asking you questions that only the real Lexie would know?"

Lexie snorted, "Don't be daft Sirius, of course it's me. Now that we have the proper supplies, let the fun begin!"

Sirius just looked at her with his eyebrows raised, "And do tell fake-Lexie, what exactly are we doing that's so fun?"

Lexie rolled her eyes dramatically, "Okay one, I am real-Lexie. Two, isn't it obvious?"

Sirius looked down at her bedding before looking at her again with one eyebrow raised, "Uhm… no."

Lexie shot Sirius a pointed look, "We're building blanket forts of course!" Lexie had expected some sort of reaction from Sirius, him jumping up excitedly and grabbing some of her bedding was preferable, but any reaction would have satisfied her. What she was expecting was for him to merely look at her like she was completely crazy. "What is wrong with you?"

"I think I should be asking you that, Lexie did you hit your head over the holidays or something?"

"What? No, why the hell would you think that?"

"Because you aren't making any sense. You're supposed to be cheering me up, not uttering gibberish and carrying around your bedding."

"What in bloody hell do you think I'm trying to do? It's not my fault you've completely failed to recognize the magical healing qualities of a good blanket fort!"

"No need to get so emotional" he said calmly, "And you should know that even though this is a magic castle, the blankets don't really have magical powers or anything."

Lexie sighed loudly before falling face first on the pile of blankets and pillows.

"Uh, Lex, you okay down there?"

"Muff oddy phamtafic."

"Could you repeat that in a language I can understand?" he asked sliding on the floor next to her sprawled out figure.

Lexie didn't move so he moved on to his favorite tactic in getting her attention.

Sirius poked her arm, "Lexxxxx, oh Lexxxxx" he crooned.

Lexie tried to shrug him off but he just poked harder and moved his face towards her before blowing into her ear.

Before Sirius had realized what had happened, Lexie had grabbed one of the pillows next to her head and swung it at him hitting him in the side of the head.

"You just wrote your own death wish!" he said right before he grabbed some of her bedding and tossed it over her head so she couldn't see before tackling her.

Lexie's warm laughter could be heard through the blankets as she rolled around trying to free herself from the confines of the blanket. When she finally managed to free her head Sirius' own laughter joined hers and he grinned at her hair which was even more knotted than usual and stuck up in multiple directions.

"Nice hair Lex" he said smirking while running his hand along the edges causing it to stand up even more from all the static, "You look kind of like James now."

As a way to retaliate Lexie tossed another pillow at him, which he managed to catch before it hit him and smirked at her, "You throw like a girl."

Lexie snorted, "Well good thing that considering I _am_ a girl."

Sirius grinned, "Well I couldn't tell from your face Lex."

Lexie opened her mouth in shock, "Are you calling me ugly Siri?"

Sirius momentarily scowled at the nickname before quipping, "Now that you mention it…"

"Well… then you look like a girl!"

"Original Lex, really original."

"Arse" she grumbled pulling one of the blankets towards her and wrapping it around herself before burrowing into it until the only thing that could be seen was her hair sticking up.

Sirius laughed again but Lexie ignored him, "Oh come on Lex, I didn't mean any of that."

Still nothing.

Sirius crept towards her planning to tackle her again but Lexie knew him well enough by now to expect it and before he reached her she had flipped down the blanket and yelled "Attack!" before lunged forward and trying to tackle him. Sadly Lexie was a lot smaller than Sirius and he was merely pushed backwards. However, during her attack the top of her head hit him square in the nose.

"Owwww, bloody hell Lex, you've killed me!" he gasped in pain while clutching his nose which had begun leaking blood.

"Oh fuck, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed in return and searched the area around her for something that might help stem the red flow. Not wanting to use her bedding, Lexie reverted back to apologizing, "Sirius I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it I swear. Tilt your head back and I'll go find something."

"Youf killed meh" he said doing as she said while pinching his nostrils shut to try and stop the flow, "I'm gonna bleed the deafth."

"Don't be such an overdramatic girl" said Lexie searching the common room for something to stop the blood and coming up with only a spare bit of parchment. Lexie handed him the parchment. Sirius held it up with his free hand, "Whad am I suppost to do wifth this, write meh will?"

"Err, that's all I can find" Lexie muttered embarrassed for thinking that would be sufficient, I'll go grab a towel or something, just stay here."

Sirius removed his hand from his nose, "I think it's stopping" he said twitching his nose trying to get rid of the numbness that had been a result of having his nose pinched.

"Ugh, you have blood all over your face Sirius."

"Well whose fault is that?" he grumbled trying to wipe his face on his sleeve.

"Ew, gross Sirius, you're getting it everywhere. You better not get it on my bedding."

"You deserve it," he muttered sitting so his back was against one of the armchairs.

Lexie looked away ashamed, "I am really sorry" she whispered.

Sirius noticed her sudden lack of cheer that had been present before and felt a little remorse, he was afterall okay and the injury was certainly not life threatening. "Whatever, it's fine Lexie, just try not to decapitate me next time, I'm rather fond of my head."

Lexie rolled her eyes but gave a small smile, "More like your face, you aren't that handsome Sirius."

"Hmpf, is that how you treat someone who was just gravely wounded?"

Lexie couldn't help the snort that escaped her, "Oh yeah, you're a modern day war hero."

"If that was your apology I refuse to accept it."

"No that wasn't my apology you dolt, I already apologized! Multiple times!"

Sirius just crossed his arms over his chest and looked away with a pout.

"Spoiled much? Okay I'm sorry for injuring you Sirius."

"Not accepted," he said trying to hold back a grin since he was having way too much fun making Lexie beg for forgiveness.

Lexie seemed to know what he was going through and crept up to him flinging her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder, "Oh please Most Honorable Sirius Black, won't you forgive me?"

Sirius couldn't hold back his laugh as he shoved her off him, "Fine I forgive you, just don't hug me again, remember I can't chance getting your girl disease. Now what about this blanket thing you wanted to do before you assaulted me?"

Lexie grinned and bounded up from the ground grabbing a blanket and skillfully flinging it over the couch and one of the armchairs creating a makeshift roof. "Ta da!"

"Uhm, yeah I don't see why that is so great."

"Oh come on, just go with it. It will get better, here help me make it bigger."

Sirius let out an exaggerated groan before he removed himself from the floor and helped Lexie add to the "fort" occasionally suggesting ideas to make it sturdier. When all of her bedding had been used Lexie smiled and crawled into the fort grabbing some pillows and propping up her head while she lay down. Sirius followed and lay down so his head was near her feet.

After a few minutes of silence where the only noise was from the crackling fire Sirius mumbled, "I still don't get it. How is this supposed to make me feel better?"

Lexie had been slowly drifting off and mumbled sleepily, "It's supposed to make you feel safe."

Sirius frowned at her odd answer, "Does it make you feel safe?"

Lexie opened her eyes and looked back at the red canopy, "Yeah, it does."

"Can I ask you something Lex?"

"Shoot."

"When was the last time you made a blanket fort and why?"

Lexie nibbled her bottom lip and Sirius was almost sure she wasn't going to answer when she hadn't said anything after a few minutes before he heard he soft voice.

"It was raining and I remember it was really cold. It was that sort of wet cold that just seeps in your bones and no matter how many socks you put on you're feet are still like ice and I could hear the soft drizzling of the rain and it just reminded me how cold I was. It was just one of those days where you don't really want to get out of bed, you just want to stay there all day. I had just had a pretty bad day a few days prior and I guess I was still caught up on it or maybe I was just feeling a little sad and pitying myself. Well, the uh-" Lexie paused not knowing what to say about the kids at the orphanage and bit her lip before plowing forward, "My brothers disturbed my thoughts wanting to build a fort because they were bored, so I helped gather all the blankets around the house and that's what we did for the rest of the day."

Lexie smiled at the thought of their giant blanket fort, which had later infuriated Mrs. Tobias, "And you know the best part?"

"What's that?" whispered Sirius.

"By the end of the day I had forgotten about why I was sad in the first place and I just felt sort of warm and safe under all the blankets with my uh- brothers lying around me giggling and making silly jokes. I guess it went from this awful rainy day to one that wasn't so awful."

Sirius was quiet for a few minutes, "I didn't know you had brothers. You never mentioned them."

"Oh uh, well I guess it never came up did it?"

"Yeah" he trailed off, "I have a brother too you know, Regulus."

"I didn't know that. How old is he?"

"Three years younger than me, so uhm, eight now. How many brothers do you have?"

Lexie bit her lip, she hated lying but she just wasn't ready to tell Sirius everything and said the first number that came into her head "Six."

Sirius whistled, "Wow, I couldn't imagine having that many."

"It's not so bad, there's always someone to play with, although sometimes that's annoying, but I guess it's better than being lonely all the time."

"I suppose," said Sirius drifting off the heat from the fire making him drowsy.

Lexie closed her eyes and felt Sirius' legs shift beside her as he adjusted in his sleep. Lexie allowed herself to bask in the security of the blanket fort just as she had on that rainy day and she smiled to herself before she too drifted off.

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**Too cheesy? I'm in that kind of mood I suppose but hopefully it wasn't too awful. I look forward to your reviews my oh so adoring readers (and you should review because it would seriously make my month).  
**


	14. Meet Aster Carrow

**Wait… a post on a story two years old? What is this craziness? Not sure if anyone's still reading, but never late than never I suppose! I've decided that this story is going to be more tidbits of Lexie's life than an actual fluid novel. I feel like that's the only way I'm going to realistically finish it. It will still be in chronological order, but I may sort of glaze over huge chunks of time (as you'll see in this chapter) for the sake of avoiding too much fluff. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless. **

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"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Lexie vaguely recognized James' warlike cry before she felt something heavy land on top of her making her feel like her lungs had just collapsed. Gasping for some much needed air, Lexie struggled against the lump that had catapulted onto her chest.

"James you big wanker, get off me" Sirius grumbled somewhere to her right and she felt something struggling beside her.

James' girly giggles broke through Sirius' muffled voice, "Looky what we have here, two little lovebirds all cuddled up in front of the fire!"

"We're not lovebirds you prat, we just fell asleep here. Now get up before I hurt you. Don't think I won't, I have a pretty good shot at your groin from here and I'm not afraid to let my foot slip" threatened Sirius.

James' reaction was immediate and he rolled off the two curling to protect his privates, "No need to get violent, you sure are a testy lover Siri."

Sirius aimed a kick at James but he had moved too far away, "Shut it. You know how much I hate that blasted nickname."

"Will you both stop bickering like a bunch of sissies and just get off of me, I'm pretty sure somebody's foot is jabbing me in the ribs and it certainly isn't mine" grumbled Lexie while still trying to untangle herself from the pile of bedding.

"I think that's my elbow actually" said Sirius wincing while he unbent it from the awkward position.

"Well get the bloody thing out of my rib cage before you rupture my lungs" gritted Lexie as James rolled back onto her legs as an attempt to untangle himself from more blankets.

"Watch it Potter, that's my foot you just barreled over, mind moving you prat?"

Remus' voice interrupted their bickering from the boy's staircase, "Are we interrupting something?" He and Peter had just entered the common room and both looked confused at the scene in front of them.

"No that would be James" said Lexie finally free from both boy's limbs and was now working her way out of what used to be a respectable blanket fort but now resembled a collapsed tent.

"And that would be what exactly?" asked Remus his eyebrows raised.

Lexie looked back at the deconstructed fort where the two black haired boys were still trying to free themselves, "Well I guess it doesn't matter anymore since it's ruined."

"Are you done making a mess of things yet? I could use some breakfast" said Peter as his stomach rumbled.

"Oy! You two, stop messing around, Pete's hungry! As dearest friends we have an obligation to make sure he doesn't starve" bellowed Lexie towards James and Sirius who had managed to free themselves from the pile of blankets and were now waging a small pillow war.

"Food?" Sirius asked his head perking up, taking advantage of the distraction James swung a pillow smacking him in the head.

"Come on, let's just go. They'll catch up soon enough" Lexie said shaking her head.

Five minutes later James and Sirius were both out of breath when James looked up, "Hey where'd they go?"

"Prats, probably went for breakfast. Race you?"

"You're on!" James shouted as both boys jumped up leaving the bedding behind and tried to simultaneously get through the portrait hole.

Lexie, Remus and Peter looked up from their food when they heard a crash coming from the entrance of the great hall and moments later James and Sirius tumbled through crashing onto the stone floor before proceeding to argue about whose body part had actually made it through the door first.

The three at the table just shook their heads smiling and resumed eating their breakfast while the Great Hall slowly filled up with students returning from Christmas.

It didn't take long for life at Hogwarts to resume. Lexie was still struggling in classes but with the help of the boys she was able to get through the material. Even Peter who was often shy and also struggled in some of the classes was useful since he had at least been raised in the magical world.

It was just another typical school night in the common room, the end of the year was fast approaching which seemed to mean more assignments as the professors seemed to be trying to squeeze in new material before exams. Lexie and Remus were diligently working on a History of Magic essay while James, Sirius and Peter were ignoring their academic responsibilities and playing Exploding Snap. The common room was full of students and the general atmosphere was relaxed.

The portrait hole opened and a wave of silence seemed to engulf the room as Professor McGonagall made her way to the fireplace where Lexie and the boys were sitting. All eyes flickered in their direction trying to eavesdrop without being caught by their Head of House.

"Lexie, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office, you have a visitor."

Lexie frowned since she never had visitors. Actually no student in Hogwarts seemed to have visitors. Even if they did, it's not like she never even knew anybody who would visit her. Especially here.

Lexie stood up in confusion and shrugged a goodbye to the boys while she followed McGonagall out of the portrait hole trying to ignore the ominous looks that the other students were giving her. Neither spoke during the entire walk and the only words that was the password to Dumbledore's Office.

"I'll leave you here," said McGonagall as she knocked on the professor's door before making her way back down the stairs.

Lexie was called inside and entered the familiar settings of Dumbledore's office before noticing a woman with dark brown hair that looked like it hadn't been tended to properly and was unruly. The woman's eyes were a deep green and Lexie couldn't figure out why, but the woman looked a little familiar yet not in the way Dumbledore or Sirius had looked familiar and she didn't get the same sense of trust coming from her.

Dumbledore stood and Lexie saw him studying her face as if he was trying to gauge her reaction. "Lexie, this is Almeda Carrow."

Lexie frowned, the name didn't sound familiar and reached out to shake the woman's hand. She held in a gasp when she came into contact with her hand, which was cold and her handshake firm, nothing about this woman made her feel like she was entirely friendly.

The woman looked a little disgusted even and said in a voice laced with superiority, "Lexie, that's not exactly the name I would have picked for you, yes Aster was a much stronger name."

Lexie frowned, she hadn't exactly been thrilled with Mrs. Tobias' decision to name her Alexandria, but she liked Lexie enough, she felt it suited her much better than Aster.

"We have found ourselves in a unique situation Lexie, please sit down and I will try to make this as, well less awkward as possible."

Lexie sat while the woman resumed her seat next to her and gave Dumbledore a hard stare. "Lexie, Almeda is your birth mother."

Lexie felt her mouth drop open and stared from Dumbledore to the woman, she was not expecting Dumbledore to just blurt something like that out, now she could feel it hanging in the room as if it was waiting for the right moment to crash down on her.

Her birth mother? This was the woman that had carried her for nine months and then tossed her away after only a few years, tossed her away to spend the rest of her life feeling unwanted. Years spent wondering who her parents were, this was the woman who was responsible for any abuse Lexie had suffered at the hands of Celine and any time Lexie had been starving for food, it was all because she had been orphaned.

This woman looked healthy enough with a nice set of robes, even if they looked a little severe. At least she was certainly alive enough to take care of her, why after so many years was she finally coming forward? Lexie realized why the woman looked familiar, she had Lexie's hair and her cheekbones, the same nose although hers was a little sharper whereas Lexie's nose was a little more petite and rounded. The eyes were quite different from Lexie's own brown ones, but she could definitely see the resemblance. Lexie suddenly felt a wave of hatred towards this woman. She had left her, left her with nothing. Not even a name.

Lexie glared at the woman before looking back at Dumbledore refusing to acknowledge her own blood, "Well what does she want?"

Dumbledore looked a little taken aback by Lexie's harsh tone but continued in the same calm voice as before, "She has come to regain custody of you. At the end of the year she would like you to live with her and spend all of your holidays at the Carrow Estate."

Lexie frowned, things just didn't add up. Why now? What's different now? The only thing that was different between now and before was that now she was a witch, but Lexie couldn't understand why that even mattered. No, Lexie felt abandoned and something about this cold woman who was supposed to be her mother did not make her feel inclined to spend any amount of time with her.

Lexie looked back at Dumbledore, he appeared to be gauging her reaction, "No, I'd rather go back to-"

Before Lexie could finish the woman snapped, "No, you will be living in your rightful place Aster, not in squalor with muggles."

Lexie wasn't in the mood to be nice to anyone who ordered her around and snapped right back. "My name isn't Aster and it never will be! You left me, what makes you think I would ever want to come back and live with you? And who cares if they're muggles, I've been living with them most of my life thanks to you so don't start caring now or anything!"

The woman had the same cold expression on her face but her green eyes were full of hidden fury and contempt and Lexie was terrified of this woman, more than she had ever been afraid of Celine. "You will come live with me and you will be a Carrow. You will embrace the life of a Carrow, it's bad enough that you were put into Gryffindor, not much I can do to fix that" she spat with disgust, "I will not tolerate anymore and you will be spending your summers back at the estate, if not willingly, you will be forced."

"That is enough, I will not have you threaten any of my students" Dumbledore said looking at Almeda with a stern expression, he turned to Lexie and his eyes became kind again, "Lexie, you currently belong to England under Mrs. Tobias' care and if you decide to remain there, you will for the time being. There will be no forcing of any kind," he said again turning back to Lexie's mother who just sneered at him, "When you gave her up she was released from your care and until further notice she will remain as such."

"What right do you have to meddle in the affairs of my family? I will go to the Ministry if I have to, they will see reason."

Lexie felt overwhelmed, her mother who had just left her, was now trying to gain custody of her. It just didn't make any sense, why wait this long? Why didn't she come see Lexie before and where did she go for all those years?

"Why did you abandon me? Why should I trust you after you just left me? Do you know what I've been through?" Lexie could feel the rage building up. She wanted answers.

Almeda looked at Lexie disgust still distorting her features, "Thought you were a squib, couldn't have that dirtying up the Carrow line, so we wiped your memories and dropped you off at some muggle orphanage. Clearly we were wrong. My father has been trying to keep track of you since then. You've made it difficult for him, disappearing for a few months before you were sent here. When we found out you weren't actually a squib we knew that you had to become a Carrow again."

Lexie had heard about squibs from Sirius who had told her he was pretty certain that Filch was one, "A person born to magical parents but unable to do a single bit of magic" Sirius had explained. Lexie was disgusted, they had left her just because they thought she had no magical ability, they hadn't even waited five years before dumping her. Lexie knew she could never live with this woman, she was cruel, Lexie could see that and she would rather spend the rest of her days at the orphanage, she would never set a foot inside any place that belonged to the Carrows.

"Who is my father, where is he?" Lexie found herself asking even though her decision had already been made.

"Dead. He was weak."

Lexie knew that she was missing something but suddenly felt drained of energy, she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to leave and never see this woman again. It suddenly didn't matter that she was an orphan and something inside her changed. Lexie no longer cared that she wasn't raised by her parents or had a family, if this woman was her mother she wanted no part of it and was glad that she wasn't under her rules.

Lexie turned to Dumbledore who was staring at Almeda with his piercing blue eyes, yes there was definitely something more to the story but Lexie was already in too much emotional pain, she felt nothing for her father and felt nothing about his death, she never knew the man. All she felt now was hate and she just wanted to go back to the common room and forget the Carrows.

"I will be returning to Mrs. Tobias for the summer, I have made my decision. Now I am tired, can I leave?"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to respond when Lexie felt fingernails dig into her arm. She looked up into those cold green eyes and winced, "You will be sorry for this, you will be joining me and you will become Aster Carrow. I will be going to the Ministry and you will be back in my custody."

"Let her go" Dumbledore's voice was calm but his eyes raged with fury, Lexie felt the fingers being pried from her arm by an invisible force, Dumbledore stood, "You may go Lexie. I will make sure your wishes are heard. Goodnight, try to get some sleep."

Lexie still felt dazed and stumbled to the door and down the stairs. Once she reached the corridor she ran, ran as fast as she could trying to escape the woman who called herself her mother, ran away from the confusion. By the time she reached the portrait hole she was gasping, her hands shaking, the deep grove sliced in her arm from her mother's nails burned but she ignored it. Her mind felt heavy, this was too much. Lexie never thought her parents would find her and all the pain that she had carefully hidden away was coursing through her causing her ears to ring. Lexie gasped the password and the portrait swung forward.

The Marauders were the only people left, they had stayed up waiting for Lexie to return. Lexie didn't want to talk to them though, she didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to crawl up on her bed and rock herself to sleep, Lexie just wanted to feel human again, even if that meant she was an orphan. They turned at the sound of her climbing through the portrait hole and noticed her flushed face, pain clearly etched on her face, her eyes dead looking.

Sirius was the first to reach her and lightly grabbed her shoulders, "Lex, what happened? What's wrong?"

Lexie just shook her head frantically, almost like she was trying to dispel water from her ears. She couldn't tell them, it hurt too much right now. Lexie didn't want to be Aster Carrow, she just wanted to be Lexie Hall again. Lexie Hall the orphan.

Lexie pulled herself out from Sirius' grasp, still shaking her head, she could feel herself losing it. Lexie needed to get out of there, she backed away from Sirius while everyone watched her, worry on all of their faces. Sirius tried to approach her again, walking slowly as if he was approaching a spooked animal, "Lexie please, tell us what's wrong, what did Dumbledore want?"

Lexie shook her head once more, "I can't. Not now" and with that she fled up the stairs, a painful sob the only sound they heard before she disappeared.

Sirius turned to James, Remus and Peter "What the hell was that about?" The three boys looked back just as confused and worried, "Dunno mate, doesn't look good whatever it was."

"I don't think I've ever seen Lexie like that. Ever" said Remus in a quiet voice. "I mean sometimes she gets this sad look in her eye when we bring up family, but I've never seen her so…" he trailed off.

"Completely traumatized" James finished for him with a frown marring his brow.

"Well of course she's sad. She doesn't know her parents remember?" murmured Remus looking thoughtful.

The other three turned to Remus, "When did she say that?" Sirius asked with a frown, "she's mentioned having brothers, a whole load of them."

"She mentioned it on the train here, said she never knew her parents and I figured maybe they gave her up for adoption or she was raised by an aunt or something. Maybe her brothers aren't really brothers by blood."

"Merlin, I can't believe I forgot about that!" said James, "I feel so awful now about talking about how wonderful my parents are now, I probably made her feel worse."

"Don't worry about it James, I'm sure she'll forgive you. Well if she'll even talk to us again. She definitely looked… well bloody depressed."

"Do you think she'll tell us what's wrong?" asked Peter in a small voice. Like the other boys and nearly everyone who had met Lexie, he liked the girl and her bright smile, she treated him just like she would anyone else despite his shy demeanor. Peter also hated to see her so distraught.

"I hope so Pete. I don't think I can live without knowing." Sirius answered while the other boys nodded. This was not the Lexie they were used to and it scared them.

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**Dun dun dun… if you're still reading leave a review and let me know what you think! **


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